A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AOS traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $74.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,289,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 969,329. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $70.97 and a 1 year high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 76.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.