Welch & Forbes LLC Has $71 Million Stock Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 210,718 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,513 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC owned about 0.52% of Watsco worth $71,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSO. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Watsco by 741.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,285,895 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $924,187,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014,233 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised 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 valued at $202,056,000 after acquiring an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Watsco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,853,000. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Watsco by 106.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 296,170 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $130,801,000 after acquiring an additional 152,662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens upped their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $425.00 price objective on Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $399.83.

Watsco Trading Up 0.7%

WSO stock opened at $367.91 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.05 and a 1-year high of $494.94. The firm has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $399.55 and its 200-day moving average is $381.73.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 16th. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.54%.

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.