Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 1,899 Shares of Watsco, Inc. $WSO

Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) by 26.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,996 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,899 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Watsco were worth $3,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Watsco by 4.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Watsco by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,546 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Watsco by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 8,963 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Watsco by 173.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Watsco by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,710 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,847,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 89.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Watsco Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Watsco stock opened at $377.32 on Thursday. Watsco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $323.05 and a 12-month high of $521.70. The company has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $395.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $375.88.

Watsco (NYSE:WSO) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Watsco, Inc. will post 14.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watsco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were paid a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. Watsco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WSO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Mizuho set a $425.00 target price on shares of Watsco in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Watsco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $409.00.

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.