Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Buys New Shares in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,442 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,392,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Watsco by 4.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Watsco by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,410 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Watsco by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,102 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in shares of Watsco by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 12,400 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,476,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Watsco in a research note on Monday, January 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $370.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $404.14.

Watsco Stock Performance

WSO stock opened at $409.77 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $361.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $382.16. The company has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01 and a beta of 1.04. Watsco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $323.05 and a 52-week high of $535.40.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.