Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Buys New Stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,014 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WAT. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Waters by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Waters by 34.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,995 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $57,579,000 after buying an additional 41,339 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Waters by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Waters by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 421,691 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $156,439,000 after acquiring an additional 27,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Waters by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,874 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,776,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $396.00 to $407.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Waters from $405.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Waters from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.25.

Waters Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of WAT stock opened at $323.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.04. Waters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $279.24 and a fifty-two week high of $423.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $365.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $371.98.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. Research analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share 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.