Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes $141,000 Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 380 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $141,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2.4% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Waters by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Waters by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,565,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Waters by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 353 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.07.

Waters Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE WAT opened at $365.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $390.80 and a 200 day moving average of $371.28. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year 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.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted 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 net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. Research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share 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.