Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. $WTS

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,416 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $2,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 78,159 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,938,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 124.5% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,273 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 13,460 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watts Water Technologies

In other news, Director Joseph T. Noonan sold 713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.45, for a total value of $195,682.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,693.30. This represents a 37.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a report on Friday, September 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $287.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.80.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $270.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.59 and a 1 year high of $287.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $276.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.45.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $643.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.15 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 13.63% and a return on equity of 18.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.37%.

Watts Water Technologies Company Profile

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.