Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Comfort Systems USA, Inc. $FIX

Key Points

• Daiwa Securities Group boosted its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 782% in the fourth quarter, and institutional ownership remains very high at 96.51% of the stock.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: several analysts raised targets or reiterated buy ratings, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $1,969.33.
• The company reported a strong quarter, beating expectations on both earnings and revenue, and it also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.70 to $0.80 per share.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX - Free Report) by 782.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,357 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,956 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Comfort Systems USA were worth $11,532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ethic Inc. raised its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 80.5% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 1,677 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,565,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 230.4% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 57,199 shares of the construction company's stock worth $53,383,000 after acquiring an additional 39,888 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 658.1% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,390 shares of the construction company's stock worth $5,031,000 after acquiring an additional 4,679 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Comfort Systems USA by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,357 shares of the construction company's stock worth $26,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caerus Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Comfort Systems USA during the 3rd quarter worth $767,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Comfort Systems USA from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $2,004.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Comfort Systems USA from $1,611.00 to $1,819.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Comfort Systems USA in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $2,200.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Comfort Systems USA from $1,680.00 to $1,992.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Comfort Systems USA in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $1,969.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian E. Lane sold 11,113 shares of Comfort Systems USA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,969.84, for a total value of $21,890,831.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 161,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at $317,319,555.76. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO William George III sold 1,000 shares of Comfort Systems USA stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,020.96, for a total transaction of $2,020,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,295,571.84. The trade was a 2.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,078 shares of company stock valued at $46,651,175. Corporate insiders own 1.24% of the company's stock.

Comfort Systems USA Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE:FIX opened at $1,841.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $64.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13 and a beta of 1.65. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $1,735.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,354.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Comfort Systems USA, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $469.16 and a fifty-two week high of $2,073.99.

Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $10.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.81 by $3.70. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. Comfort Systems USA had a net margin of 12.07% and a return on equity of 51.69%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 56.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Comfort Systems USA, Inc. will post 43.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Comfort Systems USA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Comfort Systems USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Comfort Systems USA's payout ratio is presently 9.23%.

Comfort Systems USA Company Profile

Comfort Systems USA, Inc is a U.S.-based mechanical contracting company that provides a range of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) services to commercial, industrial and institutional customers. The company focuses on the design, installation, maintenance and repair of HVAC systems, and it supports projects from initial engineering and system selection through long-term service agreements and upgrades.

Its service offerings include new construction and retrofit installations, preventive and corrective maintenance, emergency repair, energy management and building automation systems.

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