Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 10,100 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,674,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bayban bought a new stake in shares of Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Watsco in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson started coverage on Watsco in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $397.71.

Watsco Stock Down 0.5%

WSO opened at $410.11 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $401.38 and a 200 day moving average of $387.55. Watsco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $323.05 and a 52-week high of $494.94. The stock has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 1.04.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th were issued a $3.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 16th. This is a positive change from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.54%.

Watsco 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.