A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Receives Hold (C) Rating from Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their hold (c) rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a report issued on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $66.47 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $64.55 and a 12-month high of $92.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.31.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 37.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In related news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.3% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 3,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,873 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 2.0% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 9,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $877,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 34,838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.9% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 6,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $609,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. 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.