Perpetual Ltd Boosts Stock Position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Perpetual Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,817 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,449 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $11,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTS. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 45.0% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 108.4% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 323 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

WTS opened at $246.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $232.99 and a 200-day moving average of $215.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.46. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.37 and a 52-week high of $249.51.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.25. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm had revenue of $558.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is an increase from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,730. This trade represents a 74.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,530,314.40. This trade represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock worth $3,841,417 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WTS. Northcoast Research lowered Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $275.00 target price on Watts Water Technologies and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Profile

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.