Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires 13,340 Shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 17.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,548 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,340 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned about 0.23% of Watsco worth $42,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Shaker Investments LLC OH boosted its holdings in Watsco by 0.3% during the first quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 7,564 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Watsco by 10.2% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 293 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 100.0% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 58 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watsco by 52.6% during the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 87 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,603 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Watsco from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Watsco from $460.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $433.71.

Watsco Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE WSO opened at $476.71 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $478.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Watsco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $338.58 and a fifty-two week high of $520.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67 and a beta of 0.88.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $4.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.70 by ($0.21). Watsco had a return on equity of 18.55% and a net margin of 7.02%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Watsco, Inc. will post 13.83 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 16th were given a $2.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 16th. This represents a $10.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is 83.08%.

Watsco Company Profile

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.