Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,618,109 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 52,127 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.96% of Watsco worth $1,714,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Watsco by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,557 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $13,059,000 after acquiring an additional 4,898 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Watsco during the fourth quarter valued at $5,592,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Watsco by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,608 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $6,449,000 after purchasing an additional 4,349 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Watsco by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 3,036 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,439,000 after buying an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Watsco by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 7,692 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,645,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James assumed coverage on Watsco in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Watsco from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on Watsco from $450.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $486.25.

Watsco Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of WSO stock traded up $7.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $509.53. 297,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 252,740. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $396.82 and a 12-month high of $571.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45 and a beta of 0.92. The company's 50-day moving average price is $496.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $499.01.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.24. Watsco had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 7.04%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $2.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $10.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Watsco's payout ratio is 81.51%.

Watsco Company Profile

Watsco, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution of air conditioning, heating, refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies in the United States and internationally. The company distributes equipment, including residential ducted and ductless air conditioners, such as gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment.