Quantinno Capital Management LP Grows Holdings in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 29.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,437 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $292,000 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 WTS. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 105.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,942,000 after buying an additional 27,138 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 264.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after buying an additional 4,410 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 468.1% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,039 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 323,007 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,667,000 after buying an additional 19,598 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total transaction of $188,467.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,530,314.40. This trade represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Elie Melhem sold 4,397 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.53, for a total value of $925,700.41. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,204,038.57. This trade represents a 29.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,165 shares of company stock worth $3,074,168 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 0.8%

WTS stock opened at $236.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $211.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.96. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $175.37 and a fifty-two week high of $248.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.08.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.58 million. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.08% and a net margin of 12.93%. Watts Water Technologies’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.83%.

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.