Insider Selling: A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Director Sells $963,267.00 in Stock

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Director Kevin Wheeler sold 14,675 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.64, for a total transaction of $963,267.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 128,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,424,762.72. This trade represents a 10.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS traded down $1.91 on Friday, hitting $64.66. 719,092 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,588,427. The firm has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.03. A. O. Smith Corporation has a twelve month low of $54.16 and a twelve month high of $81.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $940.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.20 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.66% and a net margin of 13.01%. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 42.34%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 8.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 774.4% during the second quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 2,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 23.5% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the period. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 8.4% during the second quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 3,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AOS shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $72.00 target price (down from $75.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Longbow Research downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 18th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $66.00.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation is a manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes gas and electric storage water heaters, tankless water heaters, boilers, heat pump water heaters, water filtration systems, water softeners and reverse-osmosis products.

The company markets products under the A. O. Smith brand and other regional brands, serving applications ranging from homes and apartments to hotels, hospitals, schools, manufacturing facilities and other commercial properties.