Waters Corporation $WAT Shares Sold by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its position in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 85.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,018 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 269,566 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Waters were worth $16,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Waters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 7,608 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,890,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Waters by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $638,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its position in Waters by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 616 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co grew its position in Waters by 2.3% in the first quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 1,330 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 2.9% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Waters in a report on Thursday, June 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Waters in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Waters from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.35.

Insider Activity at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher A. Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,086,515.52. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Waters Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE:WAT opened at $405.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $380.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.78. Waters Corporation has a 52 week low of $282.77 and a 52 week high of $421.74. The company has a market capitalization of $39.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.86.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Waters’s quarterly revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Waters Corporation will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waters Company Profile

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.