Waters (NYSE:WAT) Stock Dropped to Hold by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Waters (NYSE:WAT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on WAT. Morgan Stanley set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Waters from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on Waters from $470.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. UBS Group raised Waters from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $490.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $470.00 price target on Waters in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $475.48.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE:WAT traded down $2.01 on Friday, reaching $460.19. 521,846 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 999,270. The firm has a market cap of $45.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 197.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $440.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $374.12. Waters has a 52 week low of $282.77 and a 52 week high of $483.33.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Waters had a net margin of 1.75% and a return on equity of 9.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 120.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Waters will post 14.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resources Management Corp CT ADV purchased a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Waters during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waters by 200.0% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 63 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vision Retirement LLC bought a new position in shares of Waters during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

About Waters

Waters Corporation develops and supplies analytical instruments, software, and consumables used to identify, measure, and characterize chemical and biological materials. Its products include liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry systems, which help customers analyze complex samples. The company serves pharmaceutical and biotechnology businesses, academic and government laboratories, and customers in fields such as food, environmental testing, and materials science. Waters operates internationally, with customers and operations across multiple regions.