D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Purchases 4,933 Shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,696 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 4,933 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.15% of Watts Water Technologies worth $10,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WTS. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 155 shares of the technology company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 366 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 660.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 555 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 45.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 565 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $197.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Northcoast Research cut Watts Water Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Watts Water Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $219.00 to $229.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $222.00.

Insider Activity at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $674,730. The trade was a 74.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,530,314.40. This represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,165 shares of company stock valued at $3,074,168 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock traded up $3.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $244.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 223,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,891. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $175.37 and a one year high of $248.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.08.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.25. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.08% and a net margin of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $547.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from Watts Water Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Watts Water Technologies's payout ratio is currently 23.83%.

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.