Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 33,571 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 8,125 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.06% of Waters worth $12,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Waters during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised 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. lifted its position in shares of Waters by 19,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in Waters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Waters during the 1st quarter worth approximately $72,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WAT. Leerink Partnrs raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on shares of Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Waters from $325.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $355.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $342.58.

Waters Price Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $324.55 on Monday. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $234.04 and a 1 year high of $367.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $342.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 0.95.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $709.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.09 million. Waters had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 56.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.6 EPS for the current year.

Waters Company 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.