DA Davidson Downgrades A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) to Neutral

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at DA Davidson from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $80.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.45% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $77.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.15. A. O. Smith has a 52-week low of $65.08 and a 52-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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $82.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.44.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,319. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,288,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,060,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $13,319,000 after buying an additional 162,699 shares during the last quarter. 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.