Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Holdings in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 624.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,487 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 5,592 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $2,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Watsco by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 37,808 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,286,000 after buying an additional 17,820 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 124,789 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,452,000 after buying an additional 40,326 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Watsco by 577.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,957 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,069,000 after buying an additional 17,013 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Watsco by 237.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,629 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after buying an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Watsco during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,392,000. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, Watsco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $399.83.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $380.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $399.93 and a 200 day moving average of $381.52. Watsco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.05 and a fifty-two week high of $494.94.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. Watsco’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th were issued a $3.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. Watsco’s payout ratio is currently 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.