Teza Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,604 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,708,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Waters by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Waters by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,579,000 after buying an additional 41,339 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Waters by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Waters by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 421,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $156,439,000 after buying an additional 27,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Waters by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 5,098 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 1,924 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WAT. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Waters from $355.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Waters from $415.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $400.00 price target on Waters and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $390.19.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WAT opened at $359.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $371.19.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $661.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $655.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Waters Company Profile

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.