A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on AOS. DA Davidson lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on 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, Oppenheimer raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE:AOS opened at $71.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.28. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $67.17 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.