Waters (NYSE:WAT) Price Target Raised to $420.00

Waters (NYSE:WAT) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $415.00 to $420.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 10.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upgraded Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Waters has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $390.40.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE:WAT traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $380.51. The stock had a trading volume of 127,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,785. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $390.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $363.86. Waters has a twelve month low of $279.24 and a twelve month high of $423.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.28, a PEG ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 1.01.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. On average, analysts expect that Waters will post 11.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,145,386,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084,555 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Waters during the fourth quarter worth about $284,415,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Waters in the 4th quarter worth about $104,645,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 271,804 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Waters by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,582,000 after buying an additional 212,364 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.