Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 52 Shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,273 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Waters were worth $838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Waters by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,098,668 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,633,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,456 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,145,386,000 after buying an additional 3,084,555 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Waters by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,654,002 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,582,000 after buying an additional 212,364 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $537,053,000 after acquiring an additional 34,762 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Waters by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 889,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $329,911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on WAT shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. KeyCorp raised Waters from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Waters from $415.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $390.19.

Waters Stock Up 1.6%

WAT stock opened at $347.84 on Tuesday. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The firm has a market cap of $20.70 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $343.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $367.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $661.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $655.50 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

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.