Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 180 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,230 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 180 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $10,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WAT. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 190.2% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 19,900.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 1st quarter worth about $72,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Waters in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $325.00 to $375.00 in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $310.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Waters to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $342.58.

Waters Price Performance

Waters stock opened at $326.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.38 and a beta of 0.95. 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 1 year low of $234.04 and a 1 year high of $367.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $341.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.75.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 20.71% and a return on equity of 56.81%. The firm had revenue of $709.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $700.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.6 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.