Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,452 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 8,236 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.25% of Watsco worth $33,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Watsco by 151.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 181 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Watsco by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 209 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho set a $425.00 price objective on Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Stephens upped their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $399.83.

Watsco Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of WSO stock opened at $367.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $399.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $381.73. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $323.05 and a 12-month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a dividend of $3.30 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.54%.

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.