Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $388.64.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in 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 objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cfra set a $389.00 price target on shares of Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Waters from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,145,386,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,555 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Waters by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $927,700,000 after purchasing an additional 49,194 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Waters by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,416,683 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $508,123,000 after purchasing an additional 16,703 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Waters by 0.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $318,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Waters by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 728,534 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $270,272,000 after purchasing an additional 72,515 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Waters Trading Down 0.5 %

WAT opened at $407.61 on Thursday. Waters has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $389.98 and a 200-day moving average of $363.11. The stock has a market cap of $24.20 billion, a PE ratio of 38.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 1.01.

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.