Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 113,520 Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 113,520 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $42,114,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.19% of Waters as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Waters by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $927,700,000 after acquiring an additional 49,194 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,416,683 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $508,123,000 after acquiring an additional 16,703 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 0.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $318,717,000 after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waters by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 728,534 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $270,272,000 after acquiring an additional 72,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Waters by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 714,155 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $264,937,000 after acquiring an additional 68,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WAT shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $390.40.

Waters Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $377.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $390.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $367.30. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $279.24 and a 52-week high of $423.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share 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.