A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Cut to “Neutral” at Longbow Research

Longbow Research cut shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $59.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup reduced 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $66.00.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $59.65 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.94 and a 200 day moving average of $60.11. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $54.16 and a 12 month high of $81.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.89 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 13.15%. A. O. Smith’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. A. O. Smith has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.700-3.850 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

A. O. Smith Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from A. O. Smith’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is 40.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AOS. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,168,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,017,000 after buying an additional 203,846 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,959,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $129,202,000 after acquiring an additional 64,873 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in A. O. Smith in the second quarter valued at approximately $92,005,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,425,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,014,000 after acquiring an additional 42,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in A. O. Smith by 0.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,346,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,812,000 after acquiring an additional 5,175 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

A. O. Smith Corporation is a manufacturer of water heating and water treatment products for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes gas and electric storage water heaters, tankless water heaters, boilers, heat pump water heaters, water filtration systems, water softeners and reverse-osmosis products.

The company markets products under the A. O. Smith brand and other regional brands, serving applications ranging from homes and apartments to hotels, hospitals, schools, manufacturing facilities and other commercial properties.