A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS stock opened at $71.28 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.58 and a 200-day moving average of $78.51. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $67.17 and a 12-month high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth $43,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.