Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Purchases New Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 92 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2.4% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Waters by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Waters by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waters by 3.8% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WAT. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $390.40.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT stock opened at $380.94 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $388.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $365.29. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.62 billion, a PE ratio of 35.57, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 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.