Brokerages Set A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Price Target at $75.29

Shares of A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.29.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Friday, June 27th. 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 note 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 stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AOS traded down $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $67.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 658,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,294,031. A. O. Smith has a 52-week low of $58.83 and a 52-week high of $92.45. The company has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.60. 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 (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.05. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.74% and a return on equity of 28.39%. The business had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $950.56 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The business's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. A. O. Smith's dividend payout ratio is currently 37.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,404,259 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $941,462,000 after acquiring an additional 286,316 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 67.3% during the 1st quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,188,561 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $339,124,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086,433 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,011,496 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $327,551,000 after acquiring an additional 307,201 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,698,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $251,751,000 after acquiring an additional 111,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,618,191 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $178,587,000 after acquiring an additional 417,595 shares in 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.