Watsco, Inc. $WSO Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,806 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,711 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $32,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Watsco by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,013,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Watsco in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 12.5% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,410 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 1.6% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 12,400 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,476,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Watsco by 180.2% during the 2nd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares during the period. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Watsco Trading Down 0.9%

Watsco stock opened at $406.06 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.05 and a 52 week high of $535.40. The stock has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $362.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $382.33.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 93.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Watsco from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Watsco from $400.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $404.14.

About Watsco

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.