A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $77.44 and last traded at $77.1250, with a volume of 68874 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $76.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AOS. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $77.00 target price on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of A. O. Smith and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.00.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 1.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 29.51% and a net margin of 14.26%.The firm had revenue of $912.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith Corporation will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is currently 37.31%.

Institutional Trading of A. O. Smith

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in A. O. Smith by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,096,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,009,622,000 after buying an additional 683,176 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,850,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $356,050,000 after acquiring an additional 157,856 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in A. O. Smith by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,208,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $235,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,543 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,508,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $184,182,000 after purchasing an additional 109,654 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,500,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $163,940,000 after purchasing an additional 79,696 shares during 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, 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.