LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Sells 205 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lessened its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,334 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $1,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,316 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,368,067,000 after acquiring an additional 41,654 shares during the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd raised its holdings in Waters by 1.1% in the first quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 1,110,898 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $382,404,000 after purchasing an additional 11,851 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Waters by 8.6% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $189,417,000 after purchasing an additional 51,853 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Waters by 21.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $130,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Waters by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 443,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $152,664,000 after buying an additional 18,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Waters from $325.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waters to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Leerink Partnrs raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $325.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $355.00 to $415.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $338.36.

Waters Stock Down 1.8 %

WAT stock traded down $6.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $353.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 117,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,028. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $341.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $231.90 and a twelve month high of $367.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.86, a PEG ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 0.95.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 56.81% and a net margin of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $709.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $700.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. Waters’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.6 EPS 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.