Watsco, Inc. $WSO Holdings Raised by Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.

Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its stake in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,133 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,788 shares during the period. Watsco accounts for about 6.0% of Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $11,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Watsco by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 37,808 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $15,286,000 after purchasing an additional 17,820 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Watsco by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 124,789 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,452,000 after purchasing an additional 40,326 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Watsco by 577.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,957 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,013 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Watsco by 237.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,629 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Watsco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,392,000. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSO has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho set a $425.00 price objective on Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $399.83.

Watsco Stock Performance

Shares of WSO opened at $367.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $399.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $381.73. The company has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.12. Watsco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.05 and a fifty-two week high of $494.94.

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

Watsco Increases Dividend

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

Watsco Company Profile

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.