A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Short Interest Up 11.3% in September

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,470,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the August 31st total of 2,220,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 963,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $1,191,105.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares in the company, valued at $194,319. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cim LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cim LLC now owns 40,779 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,668 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,372,000. Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $249,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AOS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.67.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS traded up $1.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $90.59. 1,631,341 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 944,538. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $64.86 and a 1 year high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.00.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.01). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 31.04% and a net margin of 14.67%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 33.16%.

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.