Letson Investment Management Inc. Makes New $540,000 Investment in Waters Corporation $WAT

Letson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,812 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. Fundsmith LLP grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 3,955,498 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,185,898,000 after purchasing an additional 347,091 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Waters by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,593,388 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $602,921,000 after purchasing an additional 8,590 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Waters by 32.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,472,419 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $441,446,000 after buying an additional 359,596 shares in the last quarter. Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. grew its stake in Waters by 11.1% during the third quarter. Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. now owns 1,356,289 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $406,629,000 after buying an additional 135,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veritas Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Waters by 112.3% during the fourth quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,241,206 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $471,447,000 after buying an additional 656,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Price Performance

WAT opened at $378.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.85. Waters Corporation has a one year low of $275.05 and a one year high of $414.15.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.39. Waters had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 EPS. Waters’s revenue was up 91.4% on a year-over-year basis. Waters has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.400-14.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waters Corporation will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Waters from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore upgraded Waters from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Waters from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waters in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $396.68.

Waters Profile

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.