Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Has $2.25 Million Stock Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lowered its holdings in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 66.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,686 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 13,455 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $2,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WSO. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Watsco by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 710 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Watsco by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in Watsco by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 7,814 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Watsco by 5.2% during the second quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 783 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Watsco by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 695 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Trading Up 0.0%

WSO opened at $410.75 on Tuesday. Watsco, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.05 and a 1-year high of $494.94. The company has a market cap of $16.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.09 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $401.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $388.38.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.53 billion for 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 revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a dividend of $3.30 per share. This is an increase from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson started coverage on Watsco in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday. Stephens lifted their target price on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $397.71.

Watsco Company Profile

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.