Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 156,614 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,622 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $58,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 2.4% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $391.07.

Waters Stock Up 3.8 %

WAT stock opened at $378.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $391.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $370.28. Waters Co. has a 12 month low of $279.24 and a 12 month high of $423.56. The company has a market cap of $22.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Waters 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.