Champlain Investment Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC cut its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 744,229 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 12,895 shares during the quarter. Waters makes up about 1.6% of Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 1.25% of Waters worth $267,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $236,095,000 after purchasing an additional 271,804 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Waters by 34.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 393,890 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $141,757,000 after buying an additional 100,811 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 77,951 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Waters by 3,627.0% during the 3rd quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 68,987 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $24,828,000 after acquiring an additional 67,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 58,983 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cfra set a $389.00 price objective on Waters in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $365.85.

Waters Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $373.47 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $354.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.94. The stock has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 0.97. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $273.60 and a 52-week high of $393.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $740.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $712.99 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.43% and a return on equity of 49.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 11.79 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.