A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Receives “Neutral” Rating from DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their neutral rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $75.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AOS. Wall Street Zen upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 2.1%

AOS traded down $1.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.68. 1,168,781 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,431,335. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $58.83 and a one year high of $77.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.04.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 13.85%.The firm had revenue of $942.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $946.33 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This is a positive change from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is presently 38.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth $91,939,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 998.6% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,348,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,521 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 655.5% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 710,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,602,000 after buying an additional 616,638 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 530.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 633,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,498,000 after purchasing an additional 532,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in A. O. Smith by 521.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 581,070 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,101,000 after buying an additional 487,513 shares during the last quarter. 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.