A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Rating Reiterated by Oppenheimer

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Oppenheimer in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.50.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $86.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.59. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $63.88 and a one year high of $89.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.98 and its 200-day moving average is $79.00.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $988.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $985.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 14.45%. A. O. Smith’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $65,120.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,691,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 24,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total value of $2,048,020.38. Following the sale, the director now owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,728,072.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $65,120.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at $3,691,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,631 shares of company stock valued at $8,042,535 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AOS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter valued at about $108,176,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 71.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,716,000 after acquiring an additional 487,742 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5,143.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 471,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,150,000 after acquiring an additional 462,900 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,120,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,599,000 after acquiring an additional 360,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 2,296,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,694,000 after acquiring an additional 329,539 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.