Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 3.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 79,128 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,580 shares during the quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Watsco were worth $34,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Watsco by 62.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 468,875 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $238,329,000 after buying an additional 180,951 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco in the 1st quarter worth $54,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,454,512 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $739,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,977 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco in the 1st quarter worth $41,218,000. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 81.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 120,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,994,000 after purchasing an additional 54,000 shares in the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Watsco from $525.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Watsco from $450.00 to $425.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Watsco from $400.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Watsco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $440.83.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of WSO stock opened at $357.59 on Thursday. Watsco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $350.00 and a 52-week high of $571.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $384.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.51.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.60 by ($0.62). Watsco had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.04%.The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 93.75%.

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.