Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 195,625 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,943,267 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 195,625 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Waters were worth $720,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,633,464,000 after buying an additional 19,456 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,145,386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,555 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Waters by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,582,000 after purchasing an additional 212,364 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Waters by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $927,700,000 after purchasing an additional 49,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Waters by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $537,053,000 after purchasing an additional 34,762 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WAT. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp upgraded Waters from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America cut their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.31.

Waters Trading Up 1.7 %

WAT stock opened at $362.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $423.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $384.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $373.38. The firm has a market cap of $21.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00.

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, topping 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 analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 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.