1,294 Shares in Watsco, Inc. $WSO Acquired by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,294 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,485,996 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $656,036,000 after acquiring an additional 31,484 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Watsco by 0.3% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 389,104 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $171,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Watsco by 1.9% during the second quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 357,837 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $158,028,000 after purchasing an additional 6,566 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Watsco by 11.2% in the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 356,844 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,748,000 after purchasing an additional 36,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Watsco by 106.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 296,170 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $130,801,000 after purchasing an additional 152,662 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSO has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Watsco from $400.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Watsco from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Watsco in a report on Monday, January 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $404.14.

Watsco Price Performance

Shares of WSO opened at $388.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34 and a beta of 1.03. Watsco, Inc. has a one year low of $323.05 and a one year high of $535.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $352.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $387.85.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The construction company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter. Watsco had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.04%. Analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.75%.

Watsco Company Profile

Watsco, Inc is the largest distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) equipment, parts and supplies in the United States. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, the company operates a network of more than 600 branches across the continental U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Watsco serves residential and commercial contractors by providing essential components for climate control systems, including air conditioners, furnaces, heat pumps, coils, refrigerants, controls and electrical and piping supplies.

Founded in 1947, Watsco has grown from a single regional distributor into an industry leader through a combination of organic expansion, acquisitions and strategic partnerships with original equipment manufacturers such as Carrier, Trane, Goodman and Lennox.