Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $310.58.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Waters from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Waters from $319.00 to $312.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. SVB Leerink upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Transactions at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Richard H. Fearon bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $332.90 per share, with a total value of $332,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $550,283.70. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Waters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the first quarter worth $25,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the first quarter worth $28,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the second quarter worth $33,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 190.2% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Up 0.1 %

WAT opened at $340.26 on Thursday. Waters has a 12 month low of $231.90 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market cap of $20.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $308.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.31.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $709.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.09 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Waters will post 11.6 earnings per share for the current 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.