Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 201 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,739 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,633,464,000 after acquiring an additional 19,456 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 106,144.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,145,386,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,555 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Waters by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,582,000 after purchasing an additional 212,364 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Waters by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $537,053,000 after buying an additional 34,762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WAT shares. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report 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 for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $401.31.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $344.67 on Friday. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $20.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $383.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $373.18.

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