Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 5,446 Shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,182,625 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,446 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.55% of Watts Water Technologies worth $663,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WTS. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Watts Water Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $337,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,400,000 after acquiring an additional 9,129 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,636,000. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Watts Water Technologies from $212.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $206.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Watts Water Technologies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $199.50.

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WTS opened at $185.66 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $201.26 and a 200 day moving average of $202.66. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.87 and a fifty-two week high of $219.52. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.48.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The technology company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $570.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.20 million. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 12.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. This is a positive change from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Watts Water Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 21.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watts Water Technologies

In other Watts Water Technologies news, insider Elie Melhem sold 2,051 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $442,011.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,335.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Elie Melhem sold 2,051 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $442,011.01. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,335.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 2,194 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.39, for a total value of $470,371.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $601,578.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,753 shares of company stock valued at $1,236,753 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.