7,855 Shares in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Purchased by JPL Wealth Management LLC

JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,855 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,914,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WAT. Barclays raised Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $391.07.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT opened at $372.92 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a PE ratio of 34.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year high of $423.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $391.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $369.80.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current 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.