Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 69 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,739 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Waters were worth $1,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Waters Trading Down 0.8 %

WAT stock opened at $324.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $342.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.03. Waters Co. has a one year low of $234.04 and a one year high of $367.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $700.09 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WAT shares. Leerink Partners raised shares of 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Waters from $325.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Waters to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. 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, nine have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $342.58.

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.