Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by Nuance Investments LLC

Nuance Investments LLC reduced its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,223 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 27,692 shares during the quarter. Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $20,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WAT. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Waters in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Waters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Waters in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Waters by 190.2% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in Waters by 19,900.0% during the second quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Waters from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $365.85.

Waters Trading Down 3.0 %

WAT opened at $344.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.02. Waters Co. has a one year low of $258.89 and a one year high of $393.38. The company has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 6.50 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $351.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.13.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The business had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $712.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waters Company 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.