Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 16.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,841 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 573 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $1,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waters by 0.4% during the second quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 7,841 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,275,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 3.2% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,084 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Waters by 3.0% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,170 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 13,087 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,797,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,782 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WAT. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Waters to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $365.85.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $355.47 on Tuesday. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $258.89 and a 1 year high of $393.38. The company has a market cap of $21.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $351.21 and a 200-day moving average of $330.97.

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