Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 492 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Cetera Investment Advisers decreased its holdings in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,143 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 492 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Waters were worth $1,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Waters by 0.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 41,654 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its holdings in Waters by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,110,898 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $382,404,000 after acquiring an additional 11,851 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Waters by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $189,417,000 after acquiring an additional 51,853 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 21.0% during 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 period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Waters by 4.3% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 443,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $152,664,000 after purchasing an additional 18,274 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Leerink Partnrs raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $310.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $355.00 to $415.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Waters in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $338.36.

Waters Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:WAT opened at $354.32 on Thursday. Waters Co. has a 52 week low of $231.90 and a 52 week high of $367.21. The stock has a market cap of $21.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.29, a PEG ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $341.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $324.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 56.81%. The business had revenue of $709.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $700.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.6 earnings per share 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.