WINTON GROUP Ltd Acquires Shares of 12,605 Waters Corporation $WAT

WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 12,605 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $4,788,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new position in Waters in the third quarter valued at about $1,397,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Waters by 543.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,244 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $14,146,000 after purchasing an additional 31,459 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Waters by 12.2% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 231,852 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $69,512,000 after purchasing an additional 25,182 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Waters by 3.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,656,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,295,612,000 after purchasing an additional 246,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in Waters in the third quarter valued at about $4,677,000. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waters to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Waters from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Waters from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waters currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $394.24.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of Waters stock opened at $365.74 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $331.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $350.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.21. Waters Corporation has a 12 month low of $275.05 and a 12 month high of $414.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.39. Waters had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 11.91%.The business had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 91.4% on a year-over-year basis. Waters has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.400-14.600 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Waters Corporation will post 14.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Waters news, Director Wei Jiang bought 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $289.46 per share, for a total transaction of $144,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,441 shares in the company, valued at $996,031.86. This represents a 17.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Waters Company Profile

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.