Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX) Short Interest Up 43.1% in May

Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE:FIX - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a growth of 43.1% from the April 30th total of 775,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 522,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 3.2% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comfort Systems USA news, Director Vance W. Tang sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.00, for a total value of $211,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,998 shares in the company, valued at $2,109,156. This represents a 9.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian E. Lane sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.66, for a total value of $6,474,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 198,046 shares in the company, valued at $85,488,536.36. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,800 shares of company stock worth $14,642,235. 1.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comfort Systems USA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Comfort Systems USA by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,802,542 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,225,673,000 after buying an additional 21,847 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Comfort Systems USA by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,697,035 shares of the construction company's stock worth $719,645,000 after buying an additional 148,493 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in Comfort Systems USA by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 889,639 shares of the construction company's stock worth $286,757,000 after buying an additional 4,512 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Comfort Systems USA by 2,872,410.3% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 833,028 shares of the construction company's stock worth $268,510,000 after buying an additional 832,999 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Comfort Systems USA by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 769,534 shares of the construction company's stock worth $326,409,000 after buying an additional 21,406 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Comfort Systems USA Trading Up 0.5%

FIX traded up $2.48 on Thursday, hitting $501.11. 248,802 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 435,877. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $404.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.04. Comfort Systems USA has a 12 month low of $272.93 and a 12 month high of $553.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 1.48.

Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The construction company reported $4.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $1.09. Comfort Systems USA had a return on equity of 35.28% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Comfort Systems USA's revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Comfort Systems USA will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Comfort Systems USA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Comfort Systems USA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Comfort Systems USA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FIX. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Comfort Systems USA from $471.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Comfort Systems USA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Comfort Systems USA from $440.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Sidoti upgraded Comfort Systems USA from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $552.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $525.80.

About Comfort Systems USA

Comfort Systems USA, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides mechanical and electrical installation, renovation, maintenance, repair, and replacement services for the mechanical and electrical services industry in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mechanical and Electrical. The company offers heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as plumbing, electrical, piping and controls, off-site construction, monitoring, and fire protection.