Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Has $5.46 Million Position in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,813 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Waters were worth $5,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WAT. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Waters by 50,228.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 662,320 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $244,111,000 after purchasing an additional 661,004 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its stake in Waters by 676.8% in the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 705,733 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $260,112,000 after purchasing an additional 614,877 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Waters by 3,349.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 304,404 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $112,928,000 after purchasing an additional 295,580 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Waters in the first quarter worth $94,028,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Waters by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,272,252 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,680,334,000 after purchasing an additional 173,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Waters in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank restated a “sector outperform” rating and set a $465.00 target price on shares of Waters in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $315.00 target price on Waters and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Waters from $374.00 to $352.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $378.73.

Waters Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE WAT opened at $291.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $319.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.58. The company has a market capitalization of $17.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Waters Corporation has a 12 month low of $275.05 and a 12 month high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $771.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $745.96 million. Waters had a return on equity of 38.60% and a net margin of 21.71%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Waters Corporation 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.