Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $8.50 Million Holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 25,573 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $8,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth $66,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at $123,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS stock opened at $65.59 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a 12 month low of $64.55 and a 12 month high of $92.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.95. The firm has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Company 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.