Taylor Securities Services Inc. Buys New Shares in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 23,600 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,952,000. Watsco comprises 3.6% of Taylor Securities Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Watsco by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 21,804 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,347,000 after acquiring an additional 3,538 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Watsco by 91.5% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 16,907 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,697,000 after purchasing an additional 8,076 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,436,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Watsco by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 78,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $26,395,000 after purchasing an additional 4,863 shares in the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson began coverage on Watsco in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. 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 boosted their target price on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $397.71.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of WSO stock opened at $400.86 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.05 and a 52 week high of $494.94. The company has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $402.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $385.65.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a dividend of $3.30 per share. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 109.54%.

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.