Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $384.71.

WAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Waters in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $430.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. State Street Corp boosted its position in Waters by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $927,700,000 after buying an additional 49,194 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 1.2% in the third 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 last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Waters by 0.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $318,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waters Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $380.96 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $376.85 and a 200-day moving average of $346.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $22.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.01. Waters has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $397.02.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $740.30 million for 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%. Waters’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.84 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waters will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current year.

About Waters

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.