A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Price Target Cut to $65.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $69.00 to $65.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

AOS has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.50.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE AOS opened at $62.95 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. A. O. Smith has a 52 week low of $58.83 and a 52 week high of $92.45. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.26.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.47%.

Insider Transactions at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,889 shares in the company, valued at $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,749 shares in the company, valued at $180,471.85. This represents a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AOS. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at $84,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.