Brokerages Set Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Price Target at $422.71

Shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $422.7143.

WSO has been the subject of several analyst reports. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Watsco from $505.00 to $460.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Watsco from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Watsco from $525.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Watsco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Watsco in the first quarter worth $25,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Watsco in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Watsco by 2,366.7% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 74 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in Watsco by 242.9% during the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 72 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Watsco during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $347.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.16 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $396.79. Watsco has a twelve month low of $323.05 and a twelve month high of $535.40.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The construction company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter. Watsco had a net margin of 7.04% and a return on equity of 16.48%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Watsco will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Watsco’s payout ratio is 93.75%.

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.