A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on AOS

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.0%

AOS stock opened at $80.43 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $58.83 and a 52 week high of $81.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.51% and a net margin of 14.26%.The company had revenue of $912.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. A. O. Smith’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.31%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 19.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 939,302 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,393,000 after acquiring an additional 154,201 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in A. O. Smith by 2.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 52.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,414 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth $386,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 52,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,424,000 after purchasing an additional 12,899 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.

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