A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Short Interest Update

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,150,000 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the December 15th total of 3,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AOS. StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.7 %

A. O. Smith stock traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $71.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,285,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 842,383. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $71.23 and its 200-day moving average is $78.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $67.17 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The business had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 35.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 200,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,391,000 after purchasing an additional 19,621 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after buying an additional 19,890 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,422 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,651,000 after acquiring an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 69,688 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,699,000 after acquiring an additional 18,170 shares in the last quarter. 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.