Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) Raises Dividend to $0.70 Per Share

Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the construction company on Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a 16.7% increase from Comfort Systems USA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Comfort Systems USA has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Comfort Systems USA has a payout ratio of 11.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Comfort Systems USA to earn $17.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.4%.

Comfort Systems USA Stock Performance

NYSE FIX traded up $36.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,409.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 484,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 414,535. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $49.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.73 and a beta of 1.67. Comfort Systems USA has a twelve month low of $276.44 and a twelve month high of $1,469.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,097.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $925.73.

Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The construction company reported $9.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $2.62. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. Comfort Systems USA had a net margin of 10.06% and a return on equity of 43.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 41.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Comfort Systems USA will post 16.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comfort Systems USA news, SVP Laura Finley Howell sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $996.16, for a total transaction of $996,160.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,907,518.08. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian E. Lane sold 7,158 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $947.98, for a total transaction of $6,785,640.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 180,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,478,206.24. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,528 shares of company stock valued at $11,972,106. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comfort Systems USA

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comfort Systems USA by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,310,126 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,022,597,000 after purchasing an additional 625,567 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comfort Systems USA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $469,606,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Comfort Systems USA by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,428,674 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,333,367,000 after acquiring an additional 375,118 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,185,909 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,103,453,000 after acquiring an additional 332,441 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 37,987.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 310,031 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $289,349,000 after acquiring an additional 309,217 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Comfort Systems USA

Comfort Systems USA, Inc is a U.S.-based mechanical contracting company that provides a range of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) services to commercial, industrial and institutional customers. The company focuses on the design, installation, maintenance and repair of HVAC systems, and it supports projects from initial engineering and system selection through long-term service agreements and upgrades.

Its service offerings include new construction and retrofit installations, preventive and corrective maintenance, emergency repair, energy management and building automation systems.