Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 237,585 Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 60.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 237,585 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned about 0.11% of A. O. Smith worth $12,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 157.2% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 665.0% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 612 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 188.9% in the first quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $79.97 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.15. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1-year low of $64.14 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,319. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AOS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.67.

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.