Buffington Mohr McNeal Acquires Shares of 680 Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Buffington Mohr McNeal acquired a new stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 680 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 55,889 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $15,325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,936 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 295.9% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 127,879 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $42,102,000 after acquiring an additional 95,577 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 227,250 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $74,818,000 after acquiring an additional 41,638 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 973,537 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $322,017,000 after acquiring an additional 550,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 13,066 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,302,000 after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Performance

Waters stock opened at $313.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $337.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $305.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.22. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $363.80. The company has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.91, a P/E/G ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $819.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $815.50 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.72% and a return on equity of 81.30%. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waters news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total value of $177,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.67.

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.