A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Receives $77.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $76.00 target price on A. O. Smith in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $74.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $66.18 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $70.46 and a 200 day moving average of $68.99. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $58.83 and a 52 week high of $77.31. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 29.34%. The business had revenue of $942.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $946.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $1,183,000. Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 75.2% during the third quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 3,362 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3,125.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 42.1% in the 3rd quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 5,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH raised its position in A. O. Smith by 45.8% in the 3rd quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH now owns 7,498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.