A. O. Smith Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.32 (NYSE:AOS)

A. O. Smith Co. (NYSE:AOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 9th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th.

A. O. Smith has increased its dividend by an average of 7.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. A. O. Smith has a dividend payout ratio of 29.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect A. O. Smith to earn $4.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.1%.

A. O. Smith Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AOS opened at $83.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.06. A. O. Smith has a fifty-two week low of $63.88 and a fifty-two week high of $89.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $85.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.92. The stock has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.25.

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.01. A. O. Smith had a return on equity of 30.94% and a net margin of 14.94%. The company had revenue of $978.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that A. O. Smith will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. 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 research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut A. O. Smith from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on A. O. Smith from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of A. O. Smith in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Robert J. Heideman sold 9,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.63, for a total value of $836,990.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,176.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ajita G. Rajendra sold 24,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.02, for a total value of $2,048,020.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 56,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,728,072.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,631 shares of company stock worth $8,042,535. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.