Watsco, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.70 (NYSE:WSO)

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 16th will be paid a dividend of 2.70 per share by the construction company on Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $10.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 16th.

Watsco has raised its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Watsco has a dividend payout ratio of 70.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Watsco to earn $15.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $10.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.6%.

Watsco Trading Up 1.1 %

WSO opened at $497.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $478.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $470.72. Watsco has a 1-year low of $338.58 and a 1-year high of $520.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23 and a beta of 0.88.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $4.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by ($0.21). Watsco had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 7.02%. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Watsco will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WSO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Watsco from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Watsco from $460.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

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.