Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,079 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Waters were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Waters by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,577,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $927,700,000 after acquiring an additional 49,194 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Waters by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,416,683 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $508,123,000 after acquiring an additional 16,703 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Waters by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 885,593 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $318,717,000 after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waters by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 728,534 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $270,272,000 after acquiring an additional 72,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Waters by 1.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 659,539 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $219,811,000 after buying an additional 6,647 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Waters Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:WAT opened at $374.24 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $388.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $366.15. Waters Co. has a 52 week low of $279.24 and a 52 week high of $423.56. The company has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.01. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on WAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $332.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $390.40.

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.