Watsco’s (WSO) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their overweight rating on shares of Watsco (NYSE:WSO) in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $485.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WSO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price target on Watsco in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $395.50.

Watsco Stock Performance

Watsco stock opened at $319.91 on Monday. Watsco has a 1 year low of $300.66 and a 1 year high of $459.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $365.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.76. The company has a market cap of $13.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 1.05.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.41 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 6.53%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Watsco will post 12.43 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Watsco’s payout ratio is 114.48%.

Institutional Trading of Watsco

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WSO. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Watsco by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,564,423,000 after acquiring an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Watsco by 60,779.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,056,000 after purchasing an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Watsco by 202.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,102,000 after purchasing an additional 316,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Watsco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,291,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

About Watsco

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.