A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $88.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

AOS has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.43 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.38. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $67.17 and a 52 week high of $92.44. 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 capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18.

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

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 35.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 214.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.