Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Buys 67,136 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 3,627.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,987 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,136 shares during the quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $24,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waters by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $236,095,000 after purchasing an additional 271,804 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Waters by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 393,890 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $141,757,000 after purchasing an additional 100,811 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Waters by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,304 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $130,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,951 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Waters by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 652,892 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $189,417,000 after purchasing an additional 51,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waters by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,879,316 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,368,067,000 after purchasing an additional 41,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WAT. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waters to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $355.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Waters from $363.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Waters from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Waters from $335.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waters presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $365.85.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE:WAT opened at $384.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $328.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.83 billion, a PE ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Waters Co. has a twelve month low of $246.35 and a twelve month high of $393.38.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. Waters had a return on equity of 49.93% and a net margin of 21.43%. The business had revenue of $740.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $712.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. Waters’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Waters

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.