A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target Raised to $92.00 at Robert W. Baird

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its target price upped by Robert W. Baird from $86.00 to $92.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $90.67.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE:AOS opened at $83.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.85. The company has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.25. A. O. Smith has a 52-week low of $63.88 and a 52-week high of $89.96.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.16%.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at $3,691,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at $3,691,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the sale, 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 quarter. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SlateStone Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,111,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.3% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 112,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,029,000 after buying an additional 10,486 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.3% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 247,629 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,153,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at approximately $10,630,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently 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.