Morse Asset Management Inc Makes New Investment in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 290 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 66,915 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $24,082,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 63.2% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 186 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $318,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,256 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the 3rd quarter worth about $256,000. Finally, PFM Health Sciences LP boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 148.6% in the 3rd quarter. PFM Health Sciences LP now owns 51,063 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $18,377,000 after purchasing an additional 30,522 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Waters from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cfra set a $389.00 price objective on Waters in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Waters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $365.85.

Waters Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE WAT opened at $391.35 on Thursday. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $279.24 and a fifty-two week high of $395.44. The stock has a market cap of $23.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.08 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $361.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.62. 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 (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. Waters had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. The firm had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.79 earnings per share 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.