A. O. Smith Co. (AOS) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 31st

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st.

A. O. Smith has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 31 years. A. O. Smith has a payout ratio of 30.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect A. O. Smith to earn $4.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.7%.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.87 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $67.17 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer upgraded A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

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.