A. O. Smith Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:AOS)

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%.

A. O. Smith has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. A. O. Smith has a dividend payout ratio of 30.9% meaning 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 Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AOS traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $71.43. The stock had a trading volume of 969,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,252. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.38. A. O. Smith has a 12 month low of $67.17 and a 12 month high of $92.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization 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.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that A. O. Smith will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AOS. Citigroup lowered 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. StockNews.com lowered A. O. Smith from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird cut 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $88.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of A. O. Smith from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.14.

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.

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