Linscomb Wealth Inc. Buys 103 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,135 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $3,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Waters by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $927,700,000 after buying an additional 49,194 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Waters by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,416,683 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $508,123,000 after acquiring an additional 16,703 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,256 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 728,534 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $270,272,000 after purchasing an additional 72,515 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Waters by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 714,155 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $264,937,000 after purchasing an additional 68,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on WAT shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $390.40.

Waters Price Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $373.26 on Friday. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $389.86 and a 200 day moving average of $367.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01.

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

About Waters

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.