Brokerages Set Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Price Target at $390.19

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $390.19.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WAT shares. Baird R W raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. KeyCorp raised Waters from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Waters from $355.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Institutional Trading of Waters

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in Waters by 106,144.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,145,386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,555 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Waters during the 4th quarter worth approximately $284,415,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Waters by 50,228.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 662,320 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $244,111,000 after acquiring an additional 661,004 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its position in Waters by 676.8% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 705,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $260,112,000 after acquiring an additional 614,877 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Waters by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,070,671 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,131,757,000 after acquiring an additional 416,669 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $346.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $344.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $370.55. 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 has a 1-year low of $279.24 and a 1-year high of $423.56. The company has a market cap of $20.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Waters’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. Analysts forecast that Waters will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.