Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Increases Dividend to $3.00 Per Share

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 3.00 per share by the construction company on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. This is a 11.1% increase from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.70.

Watsco has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Watsco has a payout ratio of 66.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Watsco to earn $16.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $10.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.3%.

Watsco Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:WSO opened at $511.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $496.49 and a 200-day moving average of $499.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58 and a beta of 1.00. Watsco has a 12 month low of $396.82 and a 12 month high of $571.42.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.24. Watsco had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 7.04%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Watsco will post 14.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Watsco from $450.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Watsco from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Watsco in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $486.25.

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.