Sei Investments Co. Has $10.47 Million Holdings in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Sei Investments Co. lessened its holdings in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 21.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 28,781 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 7,970 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $10,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Watsco by 103.1% during 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,559,965 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $525,634,000 after purchasing an additional 46,799 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,238,121 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $500,572,000 after purchasing an additional 16,595 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 638,014 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $214,373,000 after purchasing an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $395.50.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WSO opened at $308.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.56 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78 and a beta of 1.02. Watsco, Inc. has a 52 week low of $300.66 and a 52 week high of $459.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $379.48 and its 200-day moving average is $392.35.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 6.53%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.8 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.