Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Bought by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 497 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Waters by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 353 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.07.

Waters Trading Up 0.7 %

Waters stock opened at $365.75 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $390.80 and its 200-day moving average is $371.28. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year high of $423.56. The company has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00.

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

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.