A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $71.04 and last traded at $71.14, with a volume of 34055 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $72.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.15. The stock has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith Co. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.