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

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

AOS has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, January 30th.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 4th quarter worth about $97,101,000. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,885,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 1,128,543 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 220.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,022,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,371,000 after acquiring an additional 703,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,096,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,009,622,000 after acquiring an additional 683,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $79.71 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $58.83 and a 12 month high of $81.87. The company has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.51% and a net margin of 14.26%.The business 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 company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

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