A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.71.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. DA Davidson lowered shares of 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. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $71.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $71.04 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $80.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.06. 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 (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the second quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

About A. O. Smith

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.