Watsco, Inc. $WSO Position Increased by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,151 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $15,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 174 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. 89.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WSO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho set a $425.00 price target on shares of Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Watsco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $399.83.

Watsco Price Performance

NYSE WSO opened at $376.85 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $400.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $383.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27 and a beta of 1.04. Watsco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $323.05 and a 52-week high of $494.94.

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

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Watsco’s payout ratio is 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.