Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Shares Acquired by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,872 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,448 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. owned 0.11% of Watts Water Technologies worth $7,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 108.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 323 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTS has been the topic of several research reports. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Watts Water Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $275.00 price target on Watts Water Technologies and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Watts Water Technologies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 1.5%

WTS traded down $3.76 during trading on Friday, hitting $254.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 217,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,621. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.59 and a twelve month high of $260.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $241.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $218.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.25. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from Watts Water Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Watts Water Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.83%.

Insider Activity at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total value of $1,692,950.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,730. This represents a 74.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock worth $3,841,417. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Watts Water Technologies

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.