A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) Short Interest Update

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,860,000 shares, a growth of 11.6% from the May 31st total of 3,460,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A. O. Smith

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the 4th quarter worth $108,176,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 71.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,173,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,716,000 after purchasing an additional 487,742 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in A. O. Smith by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,257,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $103,693,000 after purchasing an additional 317,389 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in A. O. Smith in the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,288,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 460.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 264,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,492,000 after buying an additional 217,356 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

Shares of AOS traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.04. 539,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 921,326. 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 has a 1-year low of $64.14 and a 1-year high of $89.96. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.69 and a 200-day moving average of $83.38.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.91 million. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. The business’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that A. O. Smith will post 4.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. A. O. Smith’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AOS. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of A. O. Smith from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

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.