A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Receives $89.67 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.67.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.2 %

AOS opened at $79.39 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $64.14 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.37 and a 200-day moving average of $84.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $11.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AOS. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,644,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 100,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,281,000 after buying an additional 16,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 42,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.