HighTower Advisors LLC Has $3.79 Million Holdings in Waters Corporation $WAT

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,108 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 3,248 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $3,791,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Waters by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 200,051 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $73,733,000 after buying an additional 6,976 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,126 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waters during the 2nd quarter worth $232,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waters Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $408.02 on Friday. Waters Corporation has a 1 year low of $282.77 and a 1 year high of $426.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average is $394.88 and its 200-day moving average is $354.20. The company has a market capitalization of $40.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.19.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Waters Corporation will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,086,515.52. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Waters from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of Waters in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $408.00 to $475.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $425.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waters currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $430.10.

About Waters

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) develops and manufactures analytical workflow technologies used to measure, characterize and manage chemical and biological substances. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, industrial organizations, academic institutions and government laboratories.

The company’s portfolio includes liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis instruments, along with chromatography columns, consumables, laboratory software and services.