15,750 Shares in Watsco, Inc. $WSO Bought by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,750 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,563,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WSO. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Watsco by 103.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,564,423,000 after purchasing an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 3.1% during 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 buying an additional 46,799 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 buying an additional 16,595 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Watsco by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 638,014 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $214,373,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Watsco by 60,779.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,056,000 after buying an additional 598,677 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of WSO stock opened at $312.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $369.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $388.23. Watsco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $300.66 and a twelve month high of $459.00. The company has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12 and a beta of 1.05.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.41 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a $3.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, June 26th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $395.50.

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.