London Co. of Virginia Decreases Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

London Co. of Virginia trimmed its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 616,371 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 4,421 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia’s holdings in Waters were worth $228,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Waters by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 34.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,579,000 after acquiring an additional 41,339 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 421,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $156,439,000 after acquiring an additional 27,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,874 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,776,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WAT shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on Waters from $415.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.19.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $343.73 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $349.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $370.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $279.24 and a 12 month high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $661.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $655.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. 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.