Wells Fargo & Company MN Has $26.90 Million Stock Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,502 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.12% of Waters worth $26,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Waters by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 40,950 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $15,192,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Waters by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,962 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of Waters by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter valued at about $525,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Waters by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,460 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $396.00 to $407.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.25.

Waters Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $325.44 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $372.37. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year high of $423.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.04.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 12.86 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.