New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 208,655 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 5,597 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Waters were worth $68,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Waters by 1.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,520,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $965,392,000 after buying an additional 48,740 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 3.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,092,459 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $299,563,000 after buying an additional 32,059 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Waters by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 973,537 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $322,017,000 after buying an additional 550,112 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 34.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,895 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $228,388,000 after buying an additional 212,754 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in shares of Waters by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 582,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $191,628,000 after buying an additional 10,550 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waters Price Performance

WAT stock opened at $313.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.92. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $231.90 and a twelve month high of $363.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $819.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $815.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total value of $177,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $298.67.

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.