Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Has $44.35 Million Stock Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 5.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 121,904 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,336 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Watsco were worth $44,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its position in Watsco by 103.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,564,423,000 after acquiring an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Watsco by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,559,965 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $525,634,000 after acquiring an additional 46,799 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Watsco by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,238,121 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $500,572,000 after acquiring an additional 16,595 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 638,014 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $214,373,000 after purchasing an additional 5,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 60,779.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,056,000 after purchasing an additional 598,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Trading Down 2.3%

NYSE:WSO opened at $407.27 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $400.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $389.18. The stock has a market cap of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80 and a beta of 1.02. Watsco, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.05 and a 1-year 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $3.30 per share. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WSO. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Watsco in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.