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

Weiss Ratings reiterated their hold (c) rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

AOS has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. DA Davidson lowered A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.17. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $67.17 and a 52 week high of $92.44. The company has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. 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 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.79%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after purchasing an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 27.0% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,422 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 6,900 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 20.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 69,688 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after acquiring an additional 18,170 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter worth $93,000. 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.