A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target Raised to $90.00

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its price target upped by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 4.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AOS. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.67.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $86.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.59. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $63.88 and a 12 month high of $89.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $988.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $985.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 24,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $2,048,020.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,728,072.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other A. O. Smith news, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 24,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total transaction of $2,048,020.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 56,951 shares in the company, valued at $4,728,072.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535 over the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at about $108,176,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 71.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,716,000 after purchasing an additional 487,742 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 5,143.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 471,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,150,000 after purchasing an additional 462,900 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 20.5% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,120,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,599,000 after acquiring an additional 360,409 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the first quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 2,296,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,694,000 after acquiring an additional 329,539 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.