A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Rating Lowered to Neutral at DA Davidson

DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. DA Davidson currently has $80.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for A. O. Smith’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.90 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.05 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $97.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Trading Down 0.6 %

AOS opened at $76.87 on Wednesday. A. O. Smith has a twelve month low of $65.20 and a twelve month high of $92.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $82.48 and a 200-day moving average of $83.34. The stock has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million for 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at A. O. Smith

In related news, SVP Samuel M. Carver sold 14,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $1,191,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,319. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $167,387,000 after buying an additional 72,856 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,962,000 after buying an additional 66,933 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,708,000 after acquiring an additional 19,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,075,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,988,000 after acquiring an additional 26,794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.