A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.75.

AOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on A. O. Smith from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $65.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $67.00 target price on A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AOS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in A. O. Smith by 5,521.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 489,264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,687,000 after buying an additional 480,561 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in A. O. Smith by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,344,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,809,000 after buying an additional 60,260 shares during the period. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the fourth quarter valued at $980,000. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 54.4% in the 4th quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 50,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,376,000 after acquiring an additional 17,792 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,179,709 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,899,000 after purchasing an additional 43,320 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 1.9%

NYSE AOS opened at $59.21 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average of $63.64. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $54.16 and a 1-year high of $81.86.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

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.