Lafayette Investments Inc. Buys 267 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,462 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $2,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WAT. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 186.3% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 146 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 8,545 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Hikari Power Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Hikari Power Ltd now owns 47,630 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $15,681,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 34,029 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $11,203,000 after acquiring an additional 896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buffington Mohr McNeal purchased a new stake in Waters in the 4th quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total value of $177,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares in the company, valued at $799,965. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Waters Stock Up 1.0 %

WAT stock traded up $2.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $297.11. 94,287 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,214. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $305.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $231.90 and a 1 year high of $363.80.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $819.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $815.50 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.72% and a return on equity of 81.30%. Waters’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WAT. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.67.

Waters 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.