A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AOS has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of 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 reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. DA Davidson set a $67.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price target on A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.75.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE:AOS opened at $63.62 on Monday. A. O. Smith has a 1-year low of $54.16 and a 1-year high of $81.86. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $60.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.92.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.89 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 27.88%. A. O. Smith’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in A. O. Smith by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,344,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,809,000 after acquiring an additional 60,260 shares during the period. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of A. O. Smith during the fourth quarter worth $980,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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 worth $78,899,000 after purchasing an additional 43,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in A. O. Smith by 116.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 34,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after purchasing an additional 18,362 shares during the period. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About A. O. Smith

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.