Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 519,776 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 11,856 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Waters were worth $192,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Waters during the 4th quarter worth $665,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Waters by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 546 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 10,294 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,819,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Waters by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 38,685 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $14,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 22,155 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WAT shares. Robert W. Baird raised Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $396.00 to $407.00 in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.40.

Waters Trading Down 2.4 %

Waters stock opened at $361.61 on Friday. Waters Co. has a 12-month low of $279.24 and a 12-month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $387.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $372.60.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.