A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer upgraded A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS opened at $71.06 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $67.17 and a 1 year high of $92.44. The company has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 7.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,007 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,227 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the third quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,989 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.1% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.