Kieckhefer Group LLC Takes Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $123,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AOS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in A. O. Smith by 37.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 185,768 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,409,000 after purchasing an additional 50,798 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth $1,372,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $730,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.17.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $68.68. 264,254 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,407. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $67.17 and a twelve month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, heat pumps, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, and point-of-use carbon and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices.