Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Receives $390.19 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $390.19.

WAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waters from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Waters from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. KeyCorp raised Waters from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $400.00 price objective on Waters and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE WAT traded down $3.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $346.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 459,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 474,260. Waters has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56. The firm has a market cap of $20.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.11. The business's fifty day moving average price is $341.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $368.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Waters (NYSE:WAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.03. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. The company had revenue of $661.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $655.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waters will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Waters

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 112.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 675 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waters by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 135,463 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $50,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Waters by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,412 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $2,379,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waters by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,515 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.