A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

AOS has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.43.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $72.48 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $92.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.10. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 28.42%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $997.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.900 EPS. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In other news, Chairman Kevin J. Wheeler sold 22,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $1,581,972.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 100,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,172,105.22. This represents a 18.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the first quarter worth about $26,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in A. O. Smith by 143.7% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in A. O. Smith by 44,400.0% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in A. O. Smith by 74.8% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the second quarter worth about $30,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by 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.