Equitable Holdings Inc. Buys New Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 3,577 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,491,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Watsco by 103.1% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in Watsco in the fourth quarter worth $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew 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 bought a new position in Watsco in the second quarter valued at $119,291,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Watsco in the second quarter valued at $97,937,000. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WSO shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Watsco from $370.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price objective on Watsco in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $485.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Watsco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $395.50.

Watsco Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:WSO opened at $310.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $355.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $382.50. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $295.75 and a 12-month high of $459.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Watsco Dividend Announcement

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

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.