UBS Group Upgrades Waters (NYSE:WAT) to “Buy”

Waters (NYSE:WAT) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $490.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous price target of $375.00. UBS Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.05% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Waters in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $430.00 price target on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Waters from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Waters from $425.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waters has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.10.

Waters Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $408.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $40.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.96, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.19. Waters has a 12 month low of $282.77 and a 12 month high of $426.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $393.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $352.79.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Waters will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,086,515.52. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waters

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Waters by 35,116.4% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,254,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $20,347,434,000 after purchasing an additional 54,099,977 shares during the period. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth $466,131,171,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth $3,182,191,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Waters during the second quarter worth $623,921,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Waters by 27.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,638,772 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $488,028,000 after buying an additional 348,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) develops and manufactures analytical laboratory instruments, software and consumables used to characterize chemical, biological and pharmaceutical materials. Its products support applications including liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis and rheology.

The company’s offerings include high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometers, chromatography columns, laboratory software and related services.