Waters (NYSE:WAT) Sets New 1-Year High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Waters shares reached a new 52-week high of $433.09 before settling near $425.78, supported by strong upward momentum.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with the stock holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $434.60. Goldman Sachs raised its target to $515, while Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to “overweight” with a $480 target.
• Waters exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.05 in adjusted EPS versus a $3.01 consensus and $1.65 billion in revenue versus $1.62 billion expected; revenue increased 113.3% year over year.

Shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $433.09 and last traded at $425.7760, with a volume of 648345 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $423.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WAT. Weiss Ratings lowered Waters from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Waters in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Waters from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $400.00 to $480.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Waters from $465.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Waters in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $435.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $434.60.

Waters Trading Up 0.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.18, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $401.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $359.47.

Waters (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Waters Corporation will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,515.52. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waters

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WAT. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Waters during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Vision Retirement LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Bollard Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation NYSE: WAT develops and manufactures analytical workflow technologies used to measure, characterize and manage chemical and biological substances. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, industrial organizations, academic institutions and government laboratories.

The company's portfolio includes liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis instruments, along with chromatography columns, consumables, laboratory software and services.

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