Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Makes New Investment in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. bought a new position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,600 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Watsco by 5.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 19,043 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,699,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new stake in Watsco in the third quarter worth $486,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Watsco by 52.0% in the third quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 36,830 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,890,000 after purchasing an additional 12,596 shares in the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Watsco during the third quarter valued at about $360,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Watsco by 84.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,725 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Watsco Price Performance

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $420.00 on Thursday. Watsco, Inc. has a 1 year low of $323.05 and a 1 year high of $533.07. The firm has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.68 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $375.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $378.71.

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

Watsco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on Watsco in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research downgraded Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wolfe Research set a $349.00 price target on shares of Watsco in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Watsco from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Watsco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $412.00.

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.