Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Posted by on Jun 7th, 2022

Shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO – Get Rating) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $309.29.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WSO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Watsco from $300.00 to $350.00 in a report on Friday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Watsco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 30th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Watsco from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $320.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $277.00 to $228.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 31st.

In other Watsco news, Director Cesar L. Alvarez sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.55, for a total transaction of $1,014,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Brian E. Keeley sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.68, for a total transaction of $3,296,480.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 13.31% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Watsco in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,594,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Watsco by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,677,204 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,150,524,000 after buying an additional 141,426 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Watsco by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,124,403 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $351,803,000 after buying an additional 114,330 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Watsco by 413.4% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 125,344 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,169,000 after buying an additional 100,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Watsco by 805.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 102,258 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,060,000 after buying an additional 90,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.13% of the company’s stock.

WSO opened at $260.28 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Watsco has a 1-year low of $239.62 and a 1-year high of $318.98. The company has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.05.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 21st. The construction company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $1.08. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 23.76%. The company’s revenue was up 34.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Watsco will post 14.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 14th were paid a dividend of $2.20 per share. This represents a $8.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 13th. This is a positive change from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.95. Watsco’s payout ratio is 71.84%.

About Watsco (Get Rating)

Watsco, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes air conditioning, heating, refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies. The company distributes equipment comprising residential ducted and ductless air conditioners, such as gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment.

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Analyst Recommendations for Watsco (NYSE:WSO)

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