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

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%.

A. O. Smith has increased its dividend by an average of 7.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. A. O. Smith has a payout ratio of 30.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect A. O. Smith to earn $4.03 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 33.7%.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of A. O. Smith stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $71.43. The stock had a trading volume of 969,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,252. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $67.17 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50-day moving average is $71.38 and its 200 day moving average is $78.38.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.82. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $957.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AOS has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson downgraded A. O. Smith from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

About A. O. Smith

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.