Capital Investment Counsel LLC Boosts Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,088 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 496 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 70.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $236,095,000 after buying an additional 271,804 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Waters by 34.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 100,811 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake 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 worth $130,053,000 after acquiring an additional 77,951 shares during the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its position in Waters by 3,627.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 67,136 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $50,742,000 after purchasing an additional 58,983 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waters has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $365.85.

Waters Stock Performance

Waters stock opened at $373.47 on Friday. 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 PE ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G ratio of 6.83 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $354.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.99. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $273.60 and a fifty-two week high of $393.38.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. Waters had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. The business had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.84 EPS. Waters’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current 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.