A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Rating Increased 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 research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of 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 cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $73.44 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.82. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $70.73 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 35.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.4% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 21,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 589.6% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 12,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 10,324 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 1st quarter worth about $201,000. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 86.3% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 9,091 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 4,211 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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.