nVerses Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO)

nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 58.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,900 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Watsco were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSO. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Watsco in the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Watsco by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,265,589 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,399,207,000 after purchasing an additional 55,119 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Watsco in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Watsco by 38.3% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 957 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Watsco in the first quarter worth $114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WSO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Watsco from $522.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Watsco from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Watsco Price Performance

WSO traded up $4.62 on Thursday, hitting $499.23. 31,343 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 289,050. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $480.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $471.32. The firm has a market cap of $20.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.05 and a beta of 0.88. Watsco, Inc. has a one year low of $338.58 and a one year high of $520.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 7.02% and a return on equity of 18.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 13.83 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 16th. This represents a $10.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Watsco’s 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.