A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $88.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price indicates a potential upside of 27.96% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AOS. Citigroup reduced their target price on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. DA Davidson lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $68.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $71.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.51. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $67.17 and a 1 year high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $693,630,000 after acquiring an additional 299,766 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,848,000 after purchasing an additional 87,458 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $167,387,000 after purchasing an additional 72,856 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.