A. O. Smith’s (AOS) Hold (C) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

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

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.17.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of AOS opened at $70.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.69. A. O. Smith has a twelve month low of $58.83 and a twelve month high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 28.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,404,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $941,462,000 after purchasing an additional 286,316 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 67.3% during the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,188,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $339,124,000 after buying an additional 2,086,433 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,011,496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,551,000 after purchasing an additional 307,201 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,751,000 after purchasing an additional 111,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $178,587,000 after purchasing an additional 417,595 shares during the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.