A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Short Interest Up 38.1% in January

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 7,526,575 shares, an increase of 38.1% from the January 15th total of 5,450,963 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,641,051 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,641,051 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AOS shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price target on A. O. Smith and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 target price on A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, January 30th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $69.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.00.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,077,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,527,568. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.30 and its 200 day moving average is $70.25. A. O. Smith has a 12-month low of $58.83 and a 12-month high of $81.86.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.51% and a net margin of 14.26%.The company had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 939,302 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,393,000 after buying an additional 154,201 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 2.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 52.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,414 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the second quarter worth about $386,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 52,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,424,000 after purchasing an additional 12,899 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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.