Ritholtz Wealth Management Makes New $480,000 Investment in Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,320 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Watsco by 103.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,642,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,564,423,000 after buying an additional 2,356,998 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Watsco by 60,779.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 599,662 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $202,056,000 after buying an additional 598,677 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Watsco during the 4th quarter valued at $110,853,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Watsco by 202.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 472,182 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,102,000 after acquiring an additional 316,129 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Watsco by 12,054.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 173,078 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $69,975,000 after acquiring an additional 171,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WSO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday. Stephens increased their price objective on Watsco from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Watsco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Watsco in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $385.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Watsco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $397.71.

Watsco Trading Up 2.0%

WSO stock opened at $418.62 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $400.94 and its 200 day moving average is $388.84. The stock has a market cap of $17.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.04. Watsco, Inc. has a 1-year low of $323.05 and a 1-year high of $494.94.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The construction company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. Watsco had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 15.31%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. Watsco’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Watsco, Inc. will post 12.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.