Waters - WAT Stock Forecast, Price & News

Waters Corporation, a specialty measurement company, 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. It also designs, manufactures, sells, and services thermal analysis, rheometry, and calorimetry instruments; and develops and supplies software-based products that interface with its instruments, as well as other manufacturers' instruments. Its MS technology instruments are used in drug discovery and development comprising clinical trial testing, the analysis of proteins in disease processes, nutritional safety analysis, and environmental testing. The company offers thermal analysis, rheometry, and calorimetry instruments for use in predicting the suitability and stability of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, water, polymers, metals, and viscous liquids for various industrial, consumer good, and healthcare products, as well as for life science research. Its products are used by life science, pharmaceutical, biochemical, industrial, nutritional safety, environmental, academic, and governmental customers working in research and development, quality assurance, and other laboratory applications. Waters Corporation was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Milford, Massachusetts.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Waters from $349.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 4th. Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Waters to $378.00 in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Waters from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $320.00 to $330.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Waters from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $320.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $348.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $353.00.

Waters Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $335.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.25, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.81. The firm's fifty day moving average is $334.86 and its 200 day moving average is $323.71. Waters has a 52 week low of $288.32 and a 52 week high of $428.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.66.

Waters (NYSE:WAT - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 2nd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.12. Waters had a return on equity of 203.31% and a net margin of 24.21%. The firm had revenue of $714.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.77 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Waters's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Waters will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Christopher A. Kuebler sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.78, for a total value of $1,315,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,623,961.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.