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

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS)‘s stock had its “hold (c)” rating restated by analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised A. O. Smith from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. A. O. Smith has a 52-week low of $67.17 and a 52-week high of $92.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after purchasing an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 27.0% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 32,422 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 20.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,091,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 35.3% in the second 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. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.