Patten & Patten Inc. TN Cuts Stock Position in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN cut its holdings in A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 190,426 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 10,889 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in A. O. Smith were worth $12,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $66.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith Co. has a one year low of $64.55 and a one year high of $92.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.90.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 37.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.