Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) Stock Has Average Price Target of $434.60 According to Brokerages

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $437.10.

WAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Waters in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Waters in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $435.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th.

Waters Trading Down 3.2%

WAT opened at $425.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.15. Waters has a 1-year low of $282.77 and a 1-year high of $448.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $410.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $366.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. Waters’s revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. Analysts predict that Waters will post 14.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,086,515.52. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WAT. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waters during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in Waters during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Vision Retirement LLC purchased a new stake in Waters during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Bollard Group LLC purchased a new stake in Waters during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) develops and manufactures analytical workflow solutions used to measure, characterize and separate chemical and biological materials. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic and government laboratories, and organizations in the industrial, food, environmental and other applied markets.

The company’s portfolio includes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometry instruments, chromatography columns and other laboratory consumables.