Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 37.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 305,661 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,865 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Waters were worth $110,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. State Street Corp increased its stake in Waters by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $927,700,000 after acquiring an additional 49,194 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,416,683 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $508,123,000 after purchasing an additional 16,703 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Waters by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $318,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,256 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Waters by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 659,539 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $219,811,000 after buying an additional 6,647 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Waters by 70.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $236,095,000 after buying an additional 271,804 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Waters stock opened at $370.98 on Thursday. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $397.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $371.15 and a 200 day moving average of $342.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.01.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $712.99 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WAT. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $355.00 to $415.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on Waters in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Waters in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $430.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $379.71.

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.