Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires 6,034 Shares of Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 396,514 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Watsco were worth $133,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WSO. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 103.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 60,779.4% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,056,000 after purchasing an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,853,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Watsco by 12,054.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 173,078 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,975,000 after acquiring an additional 171,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Watsco by 120.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 305,280 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $102,864,000 after acquiring an additional 167,080 shares during the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WSO. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Watsco in a research report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $397.71.

Watsco Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE WSO opened at $389.58 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $401.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $384.89. The stock has a market cap of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.33 and a beta of 1.05. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $323.05 and a 12-month 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were issued a $3.30 dividend. This is an increase from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 109.54%.

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.