Robert W. Baird Cuts A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target to $81.00

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its price target decreased by Robert W. Baird from $82.00 to $81.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AOS. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $76.87 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $65.20 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.37.

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, 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 company 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 analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,319. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the second quarter worth $22,288,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter valued at $24,060,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% in the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,319,000 after purchasing an additional 162,699 shares during the period. 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.