iA Global Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 999 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in Waters by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in Waters by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Waters by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Waters by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 353 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WAT. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.07.

Waters Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of WAT stock opened at $365.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $390.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $371.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. As a group, research analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current 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.