A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.33.

AOS has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the third quarter worth about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after acquiring an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 92.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 761,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,397,000 after acquiring an additional 365,710 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $693,630,000 after acquiring an additional 299,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,060,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

A. O. Smith stock opened at $68.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.51. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $67.17 and a 52 week high of $92.44.

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

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.