Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA Sells 190 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA reduced its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,612 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 190 shares during the quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA’s holdings in Waters were worth $3,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $57,579,000 after acquiring an additional 41,339 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Waters by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Waters by 71.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 140,992 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,742,000 after acquiring an additional 58,983 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Waters by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,578 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Waters by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 421,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $156,439,000 after acquiring an additional 27,801 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WAT. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $390.40.

Waters Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WAT opened at $377.22 on Friday. Waters Co. has a 1-year low of $279.24 and a 1-year high of $423.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $390.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $367.30.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. Equities analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.