Capital Advisors Inc. OK Grows Holdings in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 66,377 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings in Watsco were worth $22,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Watsco by 741.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,285,895 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $924,187,000 after buying an additional 2,014,233 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,238,121 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $500,572,000 after acquiring an additional 16,595 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Watsco by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 470,177 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,293,000 after acquiring an additional 113,333 shares during the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Watsco by 13.3% during the third quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 405,480 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $163,936,000 after acquiring an additional 47,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Watsco by 0.4% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 390,480 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $157,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Watsco in a report on Monday, January 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research set a $349.00 price target on shares of Watsco in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Watsco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $409.00.

Watsco Trading Up 4.1%

Watsco stock opened at $363.23 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $393.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $373.60. Watsco, Inc. has a 12 month low of $323.05 and a 12 month high of $521.09. The company has a market cap of $14.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99 and a beta of 1.03.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The construction company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 6.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.09%.

About Watsco

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.