A. O. Smith Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:AOS)

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%.

A. O. Smith has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. A. O. Smith has a dividend payout ratio of 32.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect A. O. Smith to earn $4.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.4%.

A. O. Smith Stock Performance

AOS traded down $1.27 during trading on Monday, hitting $60.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,295,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,101,134. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.33. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $59.84 and a 12 month high of $92.45. The firm has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.26.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 28.87% and a net margin of 13.98%. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other A. O. Smith news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $27,507.35. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,562.85. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on A. O. Smith from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com raised A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a report on Saturday, March 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.86.

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.