Washington Trust Bank Makes New Investment in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Washington Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 805 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WSO. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Watsco during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Watsco in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Watsco by 115.4% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 56 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Watsco during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in Watsco in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. 89.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WSO. Zacks Research cut shares of Watsco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Watsco from $400.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Watsco from $525.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Watsco in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Watsco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $435.00.

Watsco Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of WSO opened at $350.66 on Friday. Watsco, Inc. has a 1 year low of $350.00 and a 1 year high of $571.41. The stock has a market cap of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $383.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.98.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The construction company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.60 by ($0.62). Watsco had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.04%.The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 EPS for the current year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 16th. Watsco’s payout ratio is presently 93.75%.

Watsco 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.