Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,951 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Waters were worth $130,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 190.2% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 19,900.0% in the second quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the second quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $310.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Waters in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Waters to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.50.

Waters Price Performance

Waters stock opened at $336.56 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $329.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.22. The company has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.95. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $231.90 and a 1 year 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.

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