CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Trims Stock Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lessened its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 46,722 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 467 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Waters were worth $17,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,633,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,456 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $1,145,386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,555 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 212,364 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, AKO Capital LLP grew its position in shares of Waters by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. AKO Capital LLP now owns 815,379 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $302,489,000 after purchasing an additional 25,172 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on WAT shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Baird R W raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $396.00 to $407.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.38.

Waters Price Performance

WAT opened at $320.90 on Monday. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $371.34.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. Equities research analysts expect 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.