New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 12th, 2023

Waters logo New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT – Get Rating) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,787 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 3,115 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.11% of Waters worth $23,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in Waters by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 17,885 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,127,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA purchased a new stake in Waters during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,151,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its holdings in Waters by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 462 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Waters by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 4,838 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Waters by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 983 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 88.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Waters Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of WAT opened at $302.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $17.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $315.92 and a 200 day moving average of $317.97. Waters Co. has a 52-week low of $265.61 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02.

Waters (NYSE:WAT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.10. Waters had a return on equity of 175.08% and a net margin of 23.81%. The business had revenue of $858.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $832.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 12.67 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waters news, Director Mark P. Vergnano bought 3,185 shares of Waters stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $313.32 per share, for a total transaction of $997,924.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,479.24. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Waters from $385.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Waters in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Waters from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Waters from $334.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, SVB Leerink increased their target price on Waters from $320.00 to $352.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $351.00.

Waters Company Profile

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Waters Corp. engages in the provision of workflow solutions involving liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis. It operates through the Waters and TA (TA Instruments) segments. The Waters segment consists of liquid chromatography instruments, mass spectrometry, and precision chemistry consumable products and services.