Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Watsco, Inc. (NYSE:WSO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $409.00.

A number of research firms have commented on WSO. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Watsco from $460.00 to $370.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Zacks Research raised Watsco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Watsco from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Watsco in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $349.00 price objective on shares of Watsco in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th.

Watsco Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE WSO opened at $370.31 on Friday. Watsco has a 1-year low of $323.05 and a 1-year high of $518.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $392.64 and a 200-day moving average of $373.60. The firm has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Institutional Trading of Watsco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Watsco by 89.2% in the third 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 period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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. lifted its position in Watsco by 577.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,957 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,069,000 after purchasing an additional 17,013 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Watsco by 237.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,629 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new position in shares of Watsco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,392,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.71% of the company’s stock.

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.