Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 12,634 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 48.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,937 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,634 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Waters were worth $14,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $939,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 994 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 964 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Waters by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 6,829 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Waters from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Waters from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Baird R W raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $390.19.

Waters Stock Down 0.3%

Waters stock opened at $358.40 on Tuesday. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $346.42 and a 200 day moving average of $371.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.14.

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