Nykredit A S Buys New Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 13,753 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,731,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Watsco in the fourth quarter worth about $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Watsco by 202.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316,129 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Watsco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $119,291,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Watsco during the 2nd quarter valued at about $97,937,000. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Watsco Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of WSO opened at $314.52 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $346.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $378.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28 and a beta of 1.05. Watsco, Inc. has a 1-year low of $295.75 and a 1-year high of $459.00.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.41 by ($0.41). Watsco had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.52 earnings per share. Watsco’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a $3.30 dividend. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 114.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSO has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price target on shares of Watsco in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $395.50.

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.