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

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.7143.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $80.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $76.00 price objective on A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth about $91,939,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 54.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,208,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $235,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,543 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 655.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 710,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,602,000 after acquiring an additional 616,638 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 530.1% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 633,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,498,000 after purchasing an additional 532,875 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 521.1% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 581,070 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,101,000 after purchasing an additional 487,513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $67.96 on Thursday. A. O. Smith has a twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $77.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.94.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.85%.The firm had revenue of $942.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.81%.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.