Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 10,100 Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,100 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,674,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC increased its position in Watsco by 3.8% in 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 holdings in Watsco by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,559 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in Watsco by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 7,814 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 5.2% during the second quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 783 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Watsco by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 695 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $410.11 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $401.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $387.55. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $323.05 and a 12-month high of $494.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 1.04.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 16th were paid a $3.30 dividend. This is a positive change 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 yield of 3.2%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WSO. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Watsco in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Watsco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $397.71.

Watsco Profile

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.