Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 82.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 531 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,568 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WAT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Waters by 21.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $130,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,951 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 8.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $189,417,000 after acquiring an additional 51,853 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,316 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,368,067,000 after acquiring an additional 41,654 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,295,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter valued at approximately $10,106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WAT. Barclays increased their target price on Waters from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Waters in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on Waters in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Waters from $330.00 to $310.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $355.00 to $415.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $342.58.

Waters Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Waters stock opened at $345.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 0.95. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $367.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $342.54 and a 200 day moving average of $324.96.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 56.81% and a net margin of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $709.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $700.09 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.6 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.