A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.34

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%.

A. O. Smith has a payout ratio of 32.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect A. O. Smith to earn $4.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.4%.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

AOS stock traded up $0.08 on Monday, reaching $68.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,935,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,296,598. The company's fifty day moving average is $66.37 and its 200 day moving average is $66.58. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.61. A. O. Smith has a 1 year low of $58.83 and a 1 year high of $92.45.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $963.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $950.56 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.39% and a net margin of 13.74%. The business's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in A. O. Smith stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 939,302 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 154,201 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.66% of A. O. Smith worth $61,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $75.29.

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.

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