Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $298.67.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th.

Insider Activity at Waters

In related news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total transaction of $177,770.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares in the company, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WAT. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the first quarter worth $25,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the second quarter worth $26,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the first quarter worth $28,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 11,000.0% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 111 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 55.3% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 118 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $313.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.22. Waters has a 52-week low of $231.90 and a 52-week high of $363.80.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $819.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $815.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.84 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Waters will post 11.89 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.