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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Waters from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $320.00 to $330.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $348.00 in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $349.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Waters from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, April 25th. Finally, Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Waters to $358.00 in a research report on Friday, May 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $350.14.

Waters Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WAT traded up $3.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $337.87. The company had a trading volume of 283,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 372,964. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.85. The firm has a market cap of $20.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $334.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $323.28. Waters has a twelve month low of $288.32 and a twelve month high of $428.22.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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