Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Has $560,000 Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,510 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $560,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. Willis Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Waters by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 31,727 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,770,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Waters by 251.7% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,359 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 4,551 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Waters by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,749 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new position in Waters during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $415.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Cfra set a $389.00 target price on shares of Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $384.71.

Waters Price Performance

NYSE:WAT opened at $411.53 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $387.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $359.42. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $423.56. 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 company has a market cap of $24.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.27, a P/E/G ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 1.01.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 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 return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS 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.