Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,301 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $2,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Waters by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $236,095,000 after purchasing an additional 271,804 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Waters by 34.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 393,890 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $141,757,000 after buying an additional 100,811 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Waters by 21.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $130,053,000 after acquiring an additional 77,951 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 3,627.0% in the third quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 68,987 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $24,828,000 after acquiring an additional 67,136 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 140,992 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $50,742,000 after acquiring an additional 58,983 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Waters from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $365.85.

Waters Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE WAT opened at $373.47 on Friday. Waters Co. has a one year low of $273.60 and a one year high of $393.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a market capitalization of $22.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $354.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.99.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $740.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.99 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. Waters’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal 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.