SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. Makes New Investment in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. bought a new stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,800 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Watsco by 73.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,551 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 93.6% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,042 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $15,851,000 after acquiring an additional 22,742 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 77.4% during the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 29,897 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,074,000 after acquiring an additional 13,042 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 638,014 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $214,373,000 after acquiring an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 1,869.2% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 112,601 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,941,000 after buying an additional 106,883 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Mizuho set a $425.00 price target on Watsco in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Watsco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $399.83.

Watsco Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE WSO opened at $367.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $399.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $381.73. Watsco, Inc. has a 12 month low of $323.05 and a 12 month high of $494.94.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were given a dividend of $3.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. Watsco’s 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.