Centaurus Financial Inc. Decreases Position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO)

Centaurus Financial Inc. decreased its position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,162 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $3,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Watsco by 48,984.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 233,643 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $114,924,000 after acquiring an additional 233,167 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Watsco during the first quarter valued at $90,714,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Watsco by 5.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,252,822 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $616,357,000 after buying an additional 62,041 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Watsco by 225.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 38,830 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,610,000 after buying an additional 26,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Interval Partners LP purchased a new position in Watsco in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,740,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WSO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Watsco from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Watsco from $550.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on Watsco in a research note on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $491.25.

Watsco Stock Up 1.6 %

WSO stock opened at $554.79 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $499.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.16. The stock has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.87 and a beta of 0.88. Watsco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $373.33 and a twelve month high of $555.42.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 16th were given a $2.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 16th. This represents a $10.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.46%.

Watsco Company Profile

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.