Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $409.00.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WSO shares. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on Watsco in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 103.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,564,423,000 after buying an additional 2,356,998 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Watsco by 60,779.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,056,000 after buying an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Watsco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Watsco by 202.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316,129 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Watsco by 12,054.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 173,078 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,975,000 after acquiring an additional 171,654 shares during the period. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Watsco Stock Performance

NYSE WSO opened at $393.87 on Monday. Watsco has a one year low of $323.05 and a one year high of $533.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $390.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $377.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.52 and a beta of 1.03.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The construction company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.94 by ($0.26). Watsco had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 6.87%.The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.37 EPS. Watsco’s revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Watsco will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.09%.

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.