A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Shares Purchased by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

by · The Markets Daily

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS – Free Report) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,776 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $3,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AOS. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 2.3% during the first quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 6,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 188.1% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 70,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,289,000 after purchasing an additional 45,900 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 41.0% during the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 105,621 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,449,000 after purchasing an additional 30,713 shares during the period. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith during the first quarter worth about $3,002,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.71.

View Our Latest Analysis on AOS

A. O. Smith Price Performance

AOS stock opened at $76.03 on Friday. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $70.44 and a twelve month high of $92.44. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.73. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The business had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.79%.

A. O. Smith Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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