Waters (NYSE:WAT) Upgraded at Evercore

Evercore upgraded shares of Waters (NYSE:WAT) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Evercore currently has $350.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on WAT. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Waters from $415.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Waters from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Waters from $410.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Waters from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.44.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $319.16 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $319.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $351.22. Waters has a 52 week low of $275.05 and a 52 week high of $414.15. The stock has a market cap of $31.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.50 by $0.03. Waters had a return on equity of 34.79% and a net margin of 20.30%.The business had revenue of $932.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.300-14.500 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Waters will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waters news, Director Wei Jiang acquired 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $289.46 per share, for a total transaction of $144,730.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 3,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,031.86. This represents a 17.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waters

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Waters by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,751 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. Winthrop Partners WNY LLC bought a new position in Waters during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $789,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Waters by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,623 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new position in Waters during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in Waters during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.