Waters (NYSE:WAT) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $445.48 and last traded at $443.80, with a volume of 981463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $433.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Waters from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 6th. Piper Sandler raised Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $480.00 in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Waters in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $408.00 to $475.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $434.60.

Waters Trading Down 0.7%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $409.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $365.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.74, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.19.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Waters had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 3.58%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 113.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. 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, analysts forecast that Waters Corporation will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Waters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Caitlin John LLC grew its position in Waters by 43.9% during the second quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 82 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Waters during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Waters during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

About Waters

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) develops and manufactures analytical workflow solutions used to measure, characterize and separate chemical and biological materials. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic and government laboratories, and organizations in the industrial, food, environmental and other applied markets.

The company’s portfolio includes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometry instruments, chromatography columns and other laboratory consumables.