Norges Bank Buys New Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 766,658 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $284,415,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WAT. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of Waters by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 4,281 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,588,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 2,203 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of Waters by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Waters by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,929 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $35,663,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 26,918 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,986,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.40.

Waters Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $361.61 on Friday. Waters Co. has a 12-month low of $279.24 and a 12-month high of $423.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $387.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $372.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.