Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) to Issue $2.70 Quarterly Dividend

Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 2nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of 2.70 per share by the construction company on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $10.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%.

Watsco has increased its dividend by an average of 12.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Watsco has a dividend payout ratio of 74.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Watsco to earn $14.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $10.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.4%.

Watsco Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WSO opened at $473.89 on Thursday. Watsco has a 12 month low of $373.33 and a 12 month high of $571.41. The company has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $492.47.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The construction company reported $4.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.73 by ($0.51). The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Watsco had a net margin of 6.99% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Watsco will post 13.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Watsco news, EVP Barry S. Logan sold 10,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.21, for a total value of $5,589,293.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 12.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WSO. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Watsco from $550.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on Watsco in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company.

About Watsco

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.