Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Stake Increased by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Waters in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 190.2% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 19,900.0% during the second quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Waters in the 2nd quarter valued at about $90,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $365.85.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $358.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.02. Waters Co. has a 52 week low of $258.89 and a 52 week high of $393.38. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 0.97.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $712.99 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waters Profile

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.