Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Buys 34 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID grew its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,469 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID’s holdings in Waters were worth $3,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Waters Price Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $311.30 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $334.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waters Co. has a 12-month low of $231.90 and a 12-month high of $363.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.