Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 212,364 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 212,364 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Waters were worth $984,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Waters in the fourth quarter worth $70,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 296,390 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $109,955,000 after acquiring an additional 25,228 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Waters by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,469 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in Waters in the fourth quarter worth about $665,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Waters by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 546 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of Waters stock opened at $361.61 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $387.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $372.92. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $279.24 and a fifty-two week high of $423.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $21.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WAT. Robert W. Baird upgraded Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $396.00 to $407.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Baird R W raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.40.

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.