Boston Family Office LLC Purchases 69 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Boston Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 991 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WAT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Waters by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,633,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,456 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,145,386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,555 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Waters by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $984,582,000 after buying an additional 212,364 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $927,700,000 after purchasing an additional 49,194 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Waters by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $537,053,000 after acquiring an additional 34,762 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $355.43 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $21.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $385.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $373.45. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $423.56.

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 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WAT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.31.

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.