A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE:AOS opened at $71.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $67.17 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.28.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its 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 firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP grew its position in A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in 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 third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth about $43,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.