A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.71.

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $167,387,000 after purchasing an additional 72,856 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,962,000 after purchasing an additional 66,933 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,708,000 after buying an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,075,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,988,000 after buying an additional 26,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $75.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.93 and its 200-day moving average is $83.02. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $70.30 and a one year high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

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.