Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 3,305 Shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,235 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,305 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Watts Water Technologies worth $7,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WTS. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 366 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 660.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 555 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Watts Water Technologies by 45.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. 95.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WTS shares. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $197.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $219.00 to $229.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Watts Water Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.00.

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $237.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.37 and a 12-month high of $248.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $210.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.19.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.25. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.08% and a net margin of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $558.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. Watts Water Technologies’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Watts Water Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 23.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Watts Water Technologies

In other Watts Water Technologies news, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,530,314.40. The trade was a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 2,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,730. This represents a 74.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,165 shares of company stock worth $3,074,168 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Watts Water Technologies Profile

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.