Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $395.50.

WSO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price target on Watsco in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSO. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Watsco by 35,175.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 19,402,949 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,085,791,000 after buying an additional 19,347,945 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,564,423,000 after buying an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Watsco during the fourth quarter worth $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Watsco by 202.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316,129 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Watsco in the second quarter worth $119,291,000. 89.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Watsco Price Performance

WSO stock opened at $314.52 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $346.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $378.45. Watsco has a 12 month low of $295.75 and a 12 month high of $459.00. The company has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 6.53%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Watsco will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.48%.

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.