Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 0.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,576 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Waters were worth $19,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WAT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 21.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $130,053,000 after buying an additional 77,951 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 8.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $189,417,000 after purchasing an additional 51,853 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,316 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,368,067,000 after purchasing an additional 41,654 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth $9,295,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter worth $10,106,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $324.67 on Wednesday. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $234.04 and a fifty-two week high of $367.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.38 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $341.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $324.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 56.81%. The company had revenue of $709.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Waters’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WAT. Cfra set a $389.00 target price on shares of Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $325.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Waters to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $342.58.

About Waters

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.