Oppenheimer Cuts A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target to $84.00

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its price objective trimmed by Oppenheimer from $88.00 to $84.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson lowered 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. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.86.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS stock opened at $67.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.20. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $65.53 and a 1-year high of $92.44.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 214.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in A. O. Smith during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the third quarter worth approximately $55,000. Hedge funds and other 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.