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

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment 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 brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.71.

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson cut 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.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AOS stock opened at $73.44 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $70.73 and a 12-month high of $92.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% in 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. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 92.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 761,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,397,000 after purchasing an additional 365,710 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $693,630,000 after purchasing an additional 299,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,288,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.