A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $67.75.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down from $65.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, May 15th. DA Davidson set a $67.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3,481.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 67.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 561.9% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 62.6% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $59.21 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.64. The company has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $54.16 and a 12-month high of $81.86.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.