Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Stock Holdings Increased by Rothschild Investment LLC

Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 23.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 293 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 70.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $236,095,000 after purchasing an additional 271,804 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Waters by 34.4% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 393,890 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $141,757,000 after purchasing an additional 100,811 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Waters by 37.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 305,661 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $110,005,000 after purchasing an additional 82,865 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Waters by 3,627.0% in the third quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 68,987 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $24,828,000 after purchasing an additional 67,136 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waters during the 4th quarter valued at $22,188,000. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $390.40.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE:WAT opened at $381.31 on Wednesday. Waters Co. has a 12-month low of $279.24 and a 12-month high of $423.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $389.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $366.82.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. Research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share 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.