A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Oppenheimer currently has $88.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on A. O. Smith from $82.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded A. O. Smith from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of A. O. Smith from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, A. O. Smith has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.14.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of A. O. Smith stock opened at $71.28 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.51. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $67.17 and a fifty-two week high of $92.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82. The company had revenue of $957.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of A. O. Smith by 10.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 200,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,391,000 after buying an additional 19,621 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 21,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 2,506 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in A. O. Smith by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 129,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,634,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in A. O. Smith by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,194,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,708,000 after acquiring an additional 19,890 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 1.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 411,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,628,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

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.