Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Initiates Coverage on Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS)

Equities researchers at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on WTS. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Watts Water Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.50.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of WTS stock opened at $205.58 on Tuesday. Watts Water Technologies has a 1 year low of $175.37 and a 1 year 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. The firm has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $208.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.47.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $543.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $541.83 million. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Watts Water Technologies will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Watts Water Technologies news, insider Monica Barry sold 1,559 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.52, for a total transaction of $331,318.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,463.60. The trade was a 26.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Kenneth Robert Lepage sold 3,429 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total transaction of $667,454.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 14,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,737,557.60. This represents a 19.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,974 shares of company stock valued at $6,924,594 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Watts Water Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 316,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,556,000 after acquiring an additional 9,148 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after purchasing an additional 4,967 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 64.9% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,555 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,121,000 after purchasing an additional 28,170 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Watts Water Technologies during the second quarter worth $2,897,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 977,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,425,000 after purchasing an additional 8,314 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.02% of the company’s stock.

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.