A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Short Interest Up 6.7% in December

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,150,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the December 15th total of 3,890,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.14.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.7 %

A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $67.17 and a 12-month high of $92.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $71.17 and its 200 day moving average is $78.17. 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 (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 35.79%.

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.