Analysts Set A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Target Price at $80.86

Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.86.

AOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Activity

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,471.85. This trade represents a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,726,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at about $730,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,586,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $321,348,000 after purchasing an additional 52,593 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 89.3% during the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 36,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,252,000 after buying an additional 17,079 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 3.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,848,000 after buying an additional 87,458 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $65.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $64.55 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. As a group, analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.47%.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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.