Havemeyer Place LP Buys Shares of 2,434 Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Havemeyer Place LP bought a new stake in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,434 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $820,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WSO. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Watsco by 741.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,285,895 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $924,187,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014,233 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Watsco by 60,779.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,056,000 after acquiring an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Watsco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $110,853,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Watsco by 12,054.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 173,078 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,975,000 after acquiring an additional 171,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 106.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 296,170 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $130,801,000 after acquiring an additional 152,662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:WSO opened at $371.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86 and a beta of 1.05. Watsco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $323.05 and a twelve month high of $494.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $399.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $382.89.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Watsco had a return on equity of 15.31% and a net margin of 6.85%.The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 16th were issued a dividend of $3.30 per share. This represents a $13.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 16th. This is a boost from Watsco’s previous quarterly dividend of $3.00. Watsco’s payout ratio is presently 109.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on WSO. Wall Street Zen raised Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Stephens boosted their price target on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho set a $425.00 price target on Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $399.83.

About Watsco

Watsco, Inc is the largest distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) equipment, parts and supplies in the United States. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, the company operates a network of more than 600 branches across the continental U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Watsco serves residential and commercial contractors by providing essential components for climate control systems, including air conditioners, furnaces, heat pumps, coils, refrigerants, controls and electrical and piping supplies.

Founded in 1947, Watsco has grown from a single regional distributor into an industry leader through a combination of organic expansion, acquisitions and strategic partnerships with original equipment manufacturers such as Carrier, Trane, Goodman and Lennox.