A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Given “Hold (C)” Rating at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reiterated their hold (c) rating on shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) in a research report released on Saturday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AOS. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson cut shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AOS opened at $67.07 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $65.53 and a one year high of $92.44. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.04.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ING Groep NV boosted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 191.2% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 46,713 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 30,670 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 124.5% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,712 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 4,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,419 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 684.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 138,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,462,000 after buying an additional 121,270 shares during the last quarter. 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.