A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on AOS. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson cut A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.71.

A. O. Smith Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AOS traded down $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $76.03. 1,299,005 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 967,847. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $81.56 and its 200 day moving average is $82.78. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.17. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $70.44 and a 1-year high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,046,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $167,387,000 after purchasing an additional 72,856 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,393,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,962,000 after purchasing an additional 66,933 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,708,000 after purchasing an additional 19,890 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,176,835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,715,000 after purchasing an additional 21,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.