A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

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

AOS has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered 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, 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AOS opened at $74.86 on Thursday. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $70.97 and a 12-month high of $92.44. The company has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.61.

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

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.79%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Isthmus Partners LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.