A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Downgraded by DA Davidson to Neutral

DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $80.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS stock opened at $77.28 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.48. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $65.08 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.15.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $167,387,000 after buying an additional 72,856 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,962,000 after purchasing an additional 66,933 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after buying an additional 19,890 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,075,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,988,000 after buying an additional 26,794 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.