Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Stake in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 19.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,604 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,610 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Watsco were worth $2,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Watsco by 62.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 468,875 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $238,329,000 after acquiring an additional 180,951 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Watsco by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 16,218 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,244,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Watsco in the second quarter valued at about $573,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Watsco by 5.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 26,348 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Watsco by 13.8% in the second quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 12,948 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,718,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Watsco from $505.00 to $460.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Watsco from $400.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Watsco from $525.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $435.00.

Watsco Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE WSO opened at $345.95 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $344.51 and a 12-month high of $571.41. The company has a market cap of $14.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $378.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.78.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Watsco’s payout ratio is presently 93.75%.

About Watsco

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.