Amalgamated Bank Reduces Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,481 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Waters were worth $3,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,316 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,368,067,000 after acquiring an additional 41,654 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in shares of Waters by 1.1% during the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,110,898 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $382,404,000 after purchasing an additional 11,851 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Waters by 8.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $189,417,000 after purchasing an additional 51,853 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 21.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $130,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Waters by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 443,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $152,664,000 after buying an additional 18,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on WAT shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Waters to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Waters in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.50.

Waters Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:WAT opened at $336.56 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.10. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $367.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.95.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $709.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.09 million. Waters had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 56.81%. Waters’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.