Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Buys 880 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 298.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,175 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Waters by 34.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,579,000 after purchasing an additional 41,339 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 58,983 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Waters by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,578 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Waters by 7.1% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank upgraded Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $390.40.

Waters Stock Down 0.9 %

WAT opened at $368.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.42, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $389.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $368.13. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56.

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, topping 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waters 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.