Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 238,262 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,496 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.72% of Watts Water Technologies worth $48,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WTS. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position 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 worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.02% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,730. This represents a 74.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total value of $1,692,950.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock worth $3,841,417. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Northcoast Research lowered 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Watts Water Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

NYSE WTS traded up $4.61 on Thursday, reaching $251.63. 269,376 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 175,374. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $244.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.12. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $177.59 and a 12 month high of $260.93.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Watts Water Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.