A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.86.

AOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at $583,562.85. This 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 owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in A. O. Smith by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,117,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $962,985,000 after purchasing an additional 148,432 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in A. O. Smith by 4.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 299,766 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in A. O. Smith by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,704,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $320,880,000 after purchasing an additional 995,043 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,751,000 after purchasing an additional 111,612 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in A. O. Smith by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $178,587,000 after purchasing an additional 417,595 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $68.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $64.55 and a one year high of $92.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $67.95 and a 200 day moving average of $74.59.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.34 dividend. 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 1.99%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.47%.

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.