Watts Water Technologies, Inc. $WTS Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 33.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,005 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,008 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 57.3% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 108.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph T. Noonan sold 713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.45, for a total transaction of $195,682.85. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $327,693.30. The trade was a 37.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Northcoast Research cut shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $245.50.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Up 0.7%

WTS stock opened at $284.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.59. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $177.59 and a one year high of $285.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $258.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.98.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $3.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $643.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.15 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 13.63% and a return on equity of 18.11%. Watts Water Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Watts Water Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.37%.

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.