A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) Trading 3.7% Higher on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS)’s share price traded up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $68.18 and last traded at $67.16. 253,864 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 1,123,315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.78.

The industrial products company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. The firm had revenue of $963.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $950.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

A. O. Smith Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. A. O. Smith’s payout ratio is 37.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AOS. Citigroup reduced their price objective on A. O. Smith from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on A. O. Smith from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on A. O. Smith from $88.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.17.

Insider Activity at A. O. Smith

In other news, SVP Douglas Samuel Karge sold 419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value 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 $180,471.85. The trade was a 13.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $67,356.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A. O. Smith

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AOS. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 5.6% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 229,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,003,000 after buying an additional 12,143 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 0.8% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 129,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,398,000 after buying an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at about $804,000. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of A. O. Smith in the first quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of A. O. Smith by 3.1% in the first quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,847 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.10% of the company’s stock.

A. O. Smith Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

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.