Comerica Bank Has $1.92 Million Position in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT – Get Rating) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,695 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Waters were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in shares of Waters by 2.7% in the second quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waters by 2.2% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,750 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund grew its holdings in Waters by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 7,956 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Trek Financial LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Waters by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 820 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Waters news, Director Edward Conard sold 1,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $334.70, for a total value of $354,447.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 74,224 shares in the company, valued at $24,842,772.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on WAT shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Waters from $348.00 to $317.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Waters in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Waters from $345.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Waters from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 2nd. Finally, SVB Leerink increased their price target on Waters from $320.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waters has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $345.22.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE WAT opened at $338.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $337.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $319.82. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $265.61 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

Waters (NYSE:WAT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 1st. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $708.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $680.30 million. Waters had a return on equity of 189.79% and a net margin of 23.63%. As a group, research analysts expect that Waters Co. will post 11.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Waters

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Waters Corp. engages in the provision of workflow solutions involving liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis. It operates through the Waters and TA (TA Instruments) segments. The Waters segment consists of liquid chromatography instruments, mass spectrometry, and precision chemistry consumable products and services.