A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $74.86 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $70.97 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. The company had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,288,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,060,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 100,431.5% during the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 162,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,319,000 after purchasing an additional 162,699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.