A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $66.38

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.38.

Several analysts have recently commented on AOS shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, August 24th. Longbow Research downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Madison Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth $92,005,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5,521.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 489,264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,687,000 after buying an additional 480,561 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in A. O. Smith by 70.6% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 910,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,013,000 after buying an additional 376,684 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith during the second quarter valued at $14,082,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in A. O. Smith by 10.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,168,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,017,000 after buying an additional 203,846 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS opened at $59.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.00 and its 200 day moving average is $60.15. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $54.16 and a 12-month high of $81.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.73 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 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation is a manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes gas and electric storage water heaters, tankless water heaters, boilers, heat pump water heaters, water filtration systems, water softeners and reverse-osmosis products.

The company markets products under the A. O. Smith brand and other regional brands, serving applications ranging from homes and apartments to hotels, hospitals, schools, manufacturing facilities and other commercial properties.