Waters (NYSE:WAT) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Waters (NYSE:WAT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $420.00 price target on shares of Waters in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $430.00 target price on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Waters from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Waters from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Waters from $465.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $443.79.

Waters Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $442.93 on Friday. Waters has a 52-week low of $282.77 and a 52-week high of $454.54. The company has a market capitalization of $43.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $421.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $378.73.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Waters will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total transaction of $1,442,930.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waters

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Waters during the second quarter valued at about $466,131,171,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waters during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,182,191,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Waters by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,382,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,643,428,000 after buying an additional 19,998 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter valued at about $623,921,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Waters by 27.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,638,772 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $488,028,000 after buying an additional 348,379 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Waters

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) develops and manufactures analytical technologies used to measure, identify and characterize chemical and biological substances. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, industrial manufacturers, academic and government laboratories, and organizations involved in food, environmental and clinical testing.

The company’s product portfolio includes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometers, chromatography columns and consumables, and laboratory software for data management and analysis.