Watsco, Inc. $WSO Shares Purchased by Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.

Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its holdings in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,345 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,341 shares during the quarter. Watsco accounts for about 6.4% of Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. owned approximately 0.07% of Watsco worth $12,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Watsco by 4.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,013,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Watsco by 14.9% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 742 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Watsco by 4.2% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,546 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Watsco during the second quarter valued at about $284,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Watsco by 339.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 642 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WSO. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Wolfe Research set a $349.00 price target on shares of Watsco in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Watsco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $409.00.

Watsco Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE WSO opened at $368.69 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.05 and a 52 week high of $521.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $393.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $376.66. The firm has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45 and a beta of 1.03.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The construction company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by ($0.26). Watsco had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 6.87%.The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.09%.

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.