Boston Trust Walden Corp Cuts Stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 513,529 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 5,569 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 1.54% of Watts Water Technologies worth $104,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WTS. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 23,507 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,779,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 77,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,728,000 after acquiring an additional 994 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,584 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Freedom Day Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC now owns 10,795 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,194,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Northcoast Research lowered Watts Water Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $275.00 target price on Watts Water Technologies and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

WTS stock traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $239.88. 357,368 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 174,830. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The company has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.13. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.37 and a 52-week high of $248.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $228.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $214.81.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. Watts Water Technologies's revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Watts Water Technologies's payout ratio is presently 23.83%.

Insider Transactions at Watts Water Technologies

In other Watts Water Technologies news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at $674,730. This represents a 74.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,530,314.40. This represents a 10.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock valued at $3,841,417. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.