Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,261 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,273,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 316,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,556,000 after purchasing an additional 9,148 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after acquiring an additional 4,967 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 4.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 267,439 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,411,000 after purchasing an additional 12,159 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 977,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,425,000 after purchasing an additional 8,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 264.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WTS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $218.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $197.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.00.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $213.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $208.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.54. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.37 and a 52 week high of $232.60.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The technology company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.14. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 18.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.73 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Watts Water Technologies’s payout ratio is 20.62%.

Watts Water Technologies Company Profile

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.