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

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 price objective on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, December 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,096,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,009,622,000 after buying an additional 683,176 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,850,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $356,050,000 after acquiring an additional 157,856 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $235,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,543 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 4.6% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,508,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $184,182,000 after purchasing an additional 109,654 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,500,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $163,940,000 after purchasing an additional 79,696 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of AOS stock opened at $79.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.94. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $58.83 and a 1-year high of $81.87. The firm has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 29.51%. The company had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.31%.

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.