Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSOGet Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $395.50.

A number of research firms recently commented on WSO. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Friday, June 26th.

View Our Latest Stock Report on WSO

Institutional Trading of Watsco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WSO. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Watsco by 103.1% in the fourth 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. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Watsco during the 4th quarter worth about $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Watsco by 202.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Watsco by 12,054.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Price Performance

WSO opened at $333.60 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $376.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $391.46. Watsco has a 1-year low of $300.66 and a 1-year high of $459.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93 and a beta of 1.05.

Watsco (NYSE:WSOGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.41 by ($0.41). Watsco had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Watsco will post 12.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were paid 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 4.0%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 114.48%.

Watsco Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Watsco (NYSE:WSO)

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