GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $179,000 in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 562 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $179,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 1.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,520,629 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $965,392,000 after acquiring an additional 48,740 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,092,459 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $299,563,000 after acquiring an additional 32,059 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 973,537 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $322,017,000 after acquiring an additional 550,112 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 34.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,895 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $228,388,000 after acquiring an additional 212,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 582,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $191,628,000 after acquiring an additional 10,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total transaction of $177,770.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WAT. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.67.

Waters Trading Up 1.0 %

Waters stock opened at $311.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $334.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 0.92. Waters Co. has a 52 week low of $231.90 and a 52 week high of $363.80.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $819.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $815.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current 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.