Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 129.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 94 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Waters by 34.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,579,000 after purchasing an additional 41,339 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Waters by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Waters by 13.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,578 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Waters by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 421,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $156,439,000 after purchasing an additional 27,801 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in Waters by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,874 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,776,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.07.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $371.61 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $391.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $370.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $22.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. Research analysts predict that Waters Co. 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.