Vontobel Holding Ltd. Makes New Investment in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,014 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Watsco by 40,702.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 205,237 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $87,938,000 after acquiring an additional 204,734 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Watsco by 120.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 300,059 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $113,338,000 after acquiring an additional 163,915 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Watsco by 111.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 292,832 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $110,608,000 after acquiring an additional 154,105 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at $64,908,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Watsco by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 351,188 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $132,649,000 after acquiring an additional 96,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $398.00.

Watsco Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $413.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.29 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 3.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $409.13 and a 200 day moving average of $398.83. Watsco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $315.17 and a fifty-two week high of $447.49.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The construction company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.44). The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 21.36% and a net margin of 7.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $2.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $10.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Watsco’s payout ratio is presently 79.06%.

Watsco Profile

Watsco, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution of air conditioning, heating, refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies in the United States and internationally. The company distributes equipment, including residential ducted and ductless air conditioners, such as gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment.