A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Expectations

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.67% and a return on equity of 31.04%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of AOS traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.29. 278,901 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 960,115. The stock has a market cap of $11.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $82.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. A. O. Smith has a twelve month low of $65.08 and a twelve month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.99%.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on AOS shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

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.