A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of AOS stock opened at $80.43 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $58.83 and a one year high of $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.97 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 29.51%. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth $97,101,000. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter worth about $80,885,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,208,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $235,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,543 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 220.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,022,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,371,000 after purchasing an additional 703,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,096,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,009,622,000 after purchasing an additional 683,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a leading manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential and commercial applications. Since its founding in 1874, the company has built a reputation for producing reliable, energy-efficient water heaters, boilers and pressure vessels. Its product portfolio encompasses gas, electric, condensing and tankless water heaters, as well as specialty boilers designed to meet a variety of building and industrial needs.

The company operates through two primary segments: North America and Asia.