Analysts Set Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Target Price at $404.25

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $404.25.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Watsco from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a report on Thursday, April 25th.

Watsco Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of WSO stock opened at $477.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $471.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $430.51. Watsco has a 1-year low of $337.58 and a 1-year high of $493.65. The company has a market cap of $19.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.92 and a quick ratio of 1.31.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The construction company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.26 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 19.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Watsco will post 14.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 16th will be given a dividend of $2.70 per share. This represents a $10.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 16th. Watsco’s payout ratio is currently 83.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watsco

In other news, EVP Barry S. Logan sold 774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.85, for a total transaction of $366,759.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $838,714.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Barry S. Logan sold 774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.85, for a total transaction of $366,759.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $838,714.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Alexander Macdonald sold 5,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.41, for a total transaction of $2,487,830.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Watsco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSO. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Watsco in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. First PREMIER Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco during the first quarter worth about $25,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 100.0% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 58 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Watsco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in Watsco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

About Watsco

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.