Waters Corporation $WAT Shares Acquired by Quilter Plc

Quilter Plc raised its stake in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,320 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,229 shares during the period. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Waters were worth $12,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 2.9% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 630 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Waters by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Waters by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,264 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, CW Advisors LLC grew its position in Waters by 2.0% in the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 2,112 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Waters from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on Waters in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 target price for the company. Rothschild Redb raised Waters to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Waters in a report on Monday, December 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $423.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.00.

Waters Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $392.35 on Friday. Waters Corporation has a 12-month low of $275.05 and a 12-month high of $423.56. The company has a market cap of $23.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $390.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.93.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.21 by $0.19. Waters had a return on equity of 36.59% and a net margin of 20.89%.The company had revenue of $799.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $780.05 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.050-13.150 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 4.450-4.550 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Waters Corporation will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

About Waters

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.