A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Receives “Hold (C)” Rating from Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their hold (c) rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a report issued on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $67.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $65.53 and a 1 year high of $92.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.04. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.47%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 19.8% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. 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.