King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $39.42 Million Holdings in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

King Luther Capital Management Corp cut its stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 116,986 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 15,696 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Watsco were worth $39,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WSO. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 95.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,297 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 50,442 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,275,000 after buying an additional 3,570 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 16,258 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,180,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Watsco by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 523 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens increased 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. Mizuho set a $425.00 price target on Watsco in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $399.83.

Watsco Price Performance

WSO stock opened at $380.65 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $399.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $381.52. Watsco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.05 and a fifty-two week high of $494.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59 and a beta of 1.12.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a $3.30 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Watsco’s payout ratio is 109.54%.

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.