Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Stock Position Increased by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS - Free Report) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 183,479 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 15,150 shares during the period. Watts Water Technologies makes up 1.8% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC owned about 0.55% of Watts Water Technologies worth $37,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $11,560,000 after acquiring an additional 56,536 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,703 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,608 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,558,000 after acquiring an additional 8,728 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,779,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 82,225 shares of the technology company's stock worth $16,716,000 after acquiring an additional 7,150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.02% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watts Water Technologies

In other Watts Water Technologies news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,530,314.40. The trade was a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was 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. Insiders have sold 15,768 shares of company stock worth $3,841,417 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Watts Water Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $219.00 to $229.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Northcoast Research downgraded Watts Water Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Watts Water Technologies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $222.00.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of WTS stock opened at $240.99 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $224.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.09. 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 1-year low of $175.37 and a 1-year high of $248.17. The company has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.13.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 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 firm had revenue of $558.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from Watts Water Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Watts Water Technologies's payout ratio is 23.83%.

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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