Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC lowered its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 49.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 543 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 522 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Waters by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,633,464,000 after buying an additional 19,456 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its position 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 worth $1,145,386,000 after buying an additional 3,084,555 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Waters by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $984,582,000 after buying an additional 212,364 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waters by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $537,053,000 after buying an additional 34,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Waters by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 889,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $329,911,000 after buying an additional 3,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT stock opened at $348.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year high of $423.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $342.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $369.27.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $661.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $655.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WAT. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Waters and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Waters from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $355.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Ten investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waters has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $390.19.

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.