Independent Advisor Alliance Has $754,000 Stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating 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 report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $74.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.63. A. O. Smith Co. has a twelve month low of $70.73 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its 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. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 35.79%.

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.