A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Given New $92.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) had its target price upped by Robert W. Baird from $86.00 to $92.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on AOS. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $90.67.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE AOS opened at $84.31 on Friday. A. O. Smith has a one year low of $63.88 and a one year high of $89.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.09. The firm has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.65.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.01. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. The business had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 33.16%.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total transaction of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at $800,176.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 9,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $800,176.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Idelle K. Wolf sold 814 shares of A. O. Smith stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $65,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,691,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535 in the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 10.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 183,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,407,000 after buying an additional 17,844 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,111,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 112,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,029,000 after acquiring an additional 10,486 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in A. O. Smith by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 247,629 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,153,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Company Profile

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.