A. O. Smith’s (AOS) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus restated their hold rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $80.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

AOS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a neutral rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, August 7th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $87.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.29.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 3.2 %

AOS opened at $68.24 on Tuesday. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $46.58 and a 1-year high of $76.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $72.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.57.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 7.32% and a return on equity of 29.73%. The firm had revenue of $960.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $961.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 14th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 66.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 1,142 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total value of $83,103.34. Following the sale, the director now owns 50,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,654,654.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 1,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total value of $83,103.34. Following the sale, the director now owns 50,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,654,654.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin J. Wheeler sold 12,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total transaction of $892,435.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 71,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,937,378.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,592,946 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,180,000 after acquiring an additional 54,975 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 34,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 1st quarter worth approximately $656,000. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.48% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas, heat pump and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. It operates through two segments, North America and Rest of World. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; commercial boilers for hospitals, schools, hotels, and other large commercial buildings, as well as residential boilers for homes, apartments, and condominiums; and water treatment products comprising point-of-entry water softeners, well water solutions, and whole-home water filtration products, on-the-go filtration bottles, point-of-use carbon, and reverse osmosis products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices.