A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target Lowered to $90.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $91.00 to $90.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 7.80% from the stock’s previous close.

AOS has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on A. O. Smith from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.67.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

A. O. Smith stock traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $83.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 200,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 972,276. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.75. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $63.88 and a 12 month high of $89.96. The company has a market capitalization of $12.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.25.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.01. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The firm had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. A. O. Smith’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other A. O. Smith news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,691,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,691,200. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,176.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock valued at $8,042,535 over the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at $108,176,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 71.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,716,000 after purchasing an additional 487,742 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,257,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $103,693,000 after purchasing an additional 317,389 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 94.4% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 548,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,350,000 after acquiring an additional 266,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 460.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 264,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,492,000 after acquiring an additional 217,356 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.