Voya Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. $WTS

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, owning 97,498 shares valued at approximately $19.9 million.
• Watts Water Technologies reported earnings per share (EPS) of $3.09 for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.8%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, indicating an annualized payout of $2.08 and a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,498 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,232 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Watts Water Technologies worth $19,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 78,159 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,938,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 124.5% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,273 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,950,000 after purchasing an additional 13,460 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,869 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,669 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $66,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 36,711.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 56,690 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $11,560,000 after purchasing an additional 56,536 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph T. Noonan sold 713 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.45, for a total transaction of $195,682.85. Following the sale, the director owned 1,194 shares in the company, valued at $327,693.30. This trade represents a 37.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

WTS stock opened at $281.55 on Monday. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $177.59 and a 52-week high of $285.90. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $266.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $237.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.11.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.41. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.11% and a net margin of 13.63%.The business had revenue of $643.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $612.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Watts Water Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WTS shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Watts Water Technologies from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $245.50.

Watts Water Technologies 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.

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