Waters (NYSE:WAT) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Waters to “buy” from “hold.” The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $443.79, with several analysts recently raising their targets to as high as $490.
• Waters reported quarterly EPS of $3.05, beating estimates of $3.01, while revenue reached $1.65 billion and rose 113.3% year over year. The company guided for fiscal 2026 EPS of $14.45–$14.65.
• Shares opened at $453.42, near their 12-month high of $465.36, giving Waters a market capitalization of about $44.55 billion. Institutional investors own approximately 94% of the stock, while a company director recently sold 3,626 shares.

Waters (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $420.00 target price on shares of Waters in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group raised Waters from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $430.00 price target on Waters in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Waters from $440.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Waters in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waters currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $443.79.

Waters Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:WAT opened at $453.42 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $424.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $381.94. Waters has a 12 month low of $282.77 and a 12 month high of $465.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $44.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.15.

Waters (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Waters will post 14.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total transaction of $1,442,930.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Waters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the 2nd quarter worth about $466,131,171,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Waters during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,182,191,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Waters by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,382,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,643,428,000 after purchasing an additional 19,998 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Waters during the 2nd quarter valued at about $623,921,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Waters by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,638,772 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $488,028,000 after purchasing an additional 348,379 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company's stock.

About Waters

Waters Corporation NYSE: WAT develops and manufactures analytical technologies used to measure, identify and characterize chemical and biological substances. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, industrial manufacturers, academic and government laboratories, and organizations involved in food, environmental and clinical testing.

The company's product portfolio includes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometers, chromatography columns and consumables, and laboratory software for data management and analysis.

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