Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Trims Stock Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lowered its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 166 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Waters were worth $1,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WAT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the 4th quarter valued at about $206,286,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Waters by 215.7% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 425,219 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $139,995,000 after acquiring an additional 290,511 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 148.6% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 259,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $85,498,000 after acquiring an additional 155,235 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Waters by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $130,053,000 after acquiring an additional 77,951 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,837,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,251,163,000 after acquiring an additional 64,525 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Leerink Partners upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Waters in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on Waters from $325.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waters to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.50.

Waters Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Waters stock opened at $333.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $19.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $327.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.44. Waters Co. has a 1-year low of $231.90 and a 1-year 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.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $709.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.09 million. Waters had a return on equity of 56.81% and a net margin of 20.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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.