Royal Bank of Canada Raises Position in Waters Corporation $WAT

Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 47.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 228,857 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,533 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Waters were worth $68,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WAT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Waters during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $265,751,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its position in Waters by 112.3% in the fourth quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,241,206 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $471,447,000 after buying an additional 656,436 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Waters by 509.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 671,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $254,906,000 after buying an additional 561,047 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Waters by 1,611.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 581,063 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $220,705,000 after buying an additional 547,109 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Waters by 2,281.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 538,713 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $204,619,000 after buying an additional 516,094 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Waters in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Waters in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $401.60.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of Waters stock opened at $377.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $369.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $345.48. Waters Corporation has a 52 week low of $275.05 and a 52 week high of $414.15. The company has a market capitalization of $37.09 billion, a PE ratio of 48.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Waters had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 11.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 91.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. Waters has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.400-14.600 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Waters Corporation will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Waters Profile

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.