Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 76.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,875 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,147 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Watsco were worth $4,949,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Watsco by 103.1% during the 4th 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Watsco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 valued at $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 second quarter valued at approximately $119,291,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco during the second quarter valued at approximately $97,937,000. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Watsco Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:WSO opened at $309.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $12.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $350.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $379.91. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $295.75 and a 12-month high of $459.00.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 6.53% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 16th were given a $3.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 16th. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WSO. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Watsco from $385.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $485.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $395.50.

Watsco 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.