E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Buys 358 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 56.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 996 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Waters were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in shares of Waters by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Waters by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Waters by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,565,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Waters by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on WAT shares. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $391.07.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT opened at $392.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $390.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $368.92. The company has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $279.24 and a 1 year high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its 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%. Equities analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS 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.