California Public Employees Retirement System Has $28.84 Million Holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,597 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 24,223 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Waters worth $28,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. London Co. of Virginia bought a new position in Waters during the third quarter worth $158,723,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Waters by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 973,537 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $322,017,000 after acquiring an additional 550,112 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the third quarter valued at about $78,017,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Waters by 34.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,895 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $228,388,000 after acquiring an additional 212,754 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Waters during the third quarter worth about $50,369,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Waters

In other news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total transaction of $177,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,965. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Waters Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $311.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $334.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.28. The firm has a market cap of $18.46 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.92. Waters Co. has a 1 year low of $231.90 and a 1 year high of $363.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.06. Waters had a net margin of 21.72% and a return on equity of 81.30%. The firm had revenue of $819.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $815.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WAT. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $298.67.

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.