Ridgewood Investments LLC Purchases New Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 876 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,726,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 37.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 185,768 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,409,000 after acquiring an additional 50,798 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,372,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $321,348,000 after acquiring an additional 52,593 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $730,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AOS shares. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective 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 Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Finally, UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.17.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $67.49 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. A. O. Smith Co. has a 1 year low of $67.17 and a 1 year high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.