Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Acquired by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,113 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,464 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $12,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Waters by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 966 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Waters by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,610 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,565,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Waters by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 353 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on WAT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Eleven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Waters has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $391.07.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $368.21 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $389.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $372.13. The stock has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $279.24 and a fifty-two week high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

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.