Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $365.85.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Cfra set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Waters to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $355.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Leerink Partners upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waters

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Waters in the first quarter valued at $10,106,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Waters by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 868 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Waters by 61.6% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,267,000 after buying an additional 2,509 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in Waters by 8.6% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 26,234 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,611,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Waters by 21.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $130,053,000 after buying an additional 77,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Price Performance

Waters stock opened at $373.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.97. Waters has a one year low of $273.60 and a one year high of $393.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $354.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.94.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. Waters had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. The business had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $712.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Waters will post 11.79 EPS for the current year.

About Waters

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.