Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 591 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 5,098 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,924 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,864 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,966,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter worth about $42,114,000. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WAT shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Waters from $355.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. KeyCorp upgraded Waters from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on Waters from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $390.19.

Waters Trading Down 2.2%

WAT opened at $341.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $368.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.92, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. Waters’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.21 EPS. Analysts predict that Waters Co. will post 12.86 EPS for the current year.

Waters Company 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.