Sanctuary Advisors LLC Raises Position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 11.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,616 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 2.5% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 4.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 741,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $153,708,000 after buying an additional 30,688 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,272 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 105.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,942,000 after buying an additional 27,138 shares during the period. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Watts Water Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth about $695,000. Institutional investors own 95.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTS has been the topic of several research reports. Northcoast Research raised shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Watts Water Technologies from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Watts Water Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Three 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Kenneth Robert Lepage sold 3,429 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $667,454.85. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 14,064 shares in the company, valued at $2,737,557.60. This trade represents a 19.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert J. Pagano, Jr. sold 20,810 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.20, for a total value of $4,415,882.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 176,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,356,749. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,974 shares of company stock worth $6,924,594. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $202.02 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.37 and a 52-week high of $222.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.55.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The company had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $541.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.62%.

About Watts Water Technologies

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.