A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Stock Now Rated “Reduce” by Sell-Side Brokerages

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.00.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AOS shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on A. O. Smith from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 price objective on A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 18th. Zacks Research raised A. O. Smith from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Longbow Research lowered shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 10.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,168,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $143,017,000 after buying an additional 203,846 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,959,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $129,202,000 after acquiring an additional 64,873 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,425,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,014,000 after acquiring an additional 42,702 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $92,005,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,346,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,812,000 after acquiring an additional 5,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

NYSE AOS opened at $61.65 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.08. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $54.16 and a 12-month high of $81.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.12.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. Research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 40.00%.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation is a manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes gas and electric storage water heaters, tankless water heaters, boilers, heat pump water heaters, water filtration systems, water softeners and reverse-osmosis products.

The company markets products under the A. O. Smith brand and other regional brands, serving applications ranging from homes and apartments to hotels, hospitals, schools, manufacturing facilities and other commercial properties.