A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AOS. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.17.

A. O. Smith Stock Up 0.6 %

AOS stock opened at $68.68 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $67.17 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. The business had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $960.36 million. A. O. Smith had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 30.09%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter worth about $78,766,000. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,852,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,055,000 after purchasing an additional 400,304 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 92.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 761,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,397,000 after purchasing an additional 365,710 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,721,581 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $693,630,000 after purchasing an additional 299,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in A. O. Smith in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,060,000. 76.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.