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

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.17.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AOS shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.5%

AOS opened at $70.13 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. A. O. Smith has a twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $92.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.70.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. The company had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $950.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 148.9% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,207 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the first quarter worth $64,000. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 2.0% in the first quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 60,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the first quarter worth $13,293,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 104,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.