Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 70,772 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,847,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WSO. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 710 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Watsco by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 7,814 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 805 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 783 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. 89.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens upped 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Mizuho set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $399.83.

Watsco Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:WSO opened at $384.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $400.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $383.95. Watsco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $323.05 and a twelve month high of $494.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.87 and a beta of 1.04.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a $3.30 dividend. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 16th. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.54%.

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.