Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 4,700 Shares of Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 97.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,519 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Watsco were worth $4,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WSO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Watsco by 62.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 468,875 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $238,329,000 after purchasing an additional 180,951 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Watsco in the 1st quarter valued at $54,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $739,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,977 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Watsco during the first quarter worth $41,218,000. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Watsco by 81.8% during the second quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 120,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,994,000 after buying an additional 54,000 shares in the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Watsco Stock Performance

WSO opened at $358.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $388.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $432.16. Watsco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $350.00 and a twelve month high of $571.41. The firm has a market cap of $14.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th will be issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WSO. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $525.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $505.00 to $460.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $400.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Watsco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $440.83.

Watsco Company Profile

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.