Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Purchases 2,356 Shares of Waters Corporation $WAT

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 222,473 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 2,356 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Waters were worth $84,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the third quarter valued at about $1,397,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 543.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,244 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $14,146,000 after purchasing an additional 31,459 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 12.2% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 231,852 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $69,512,000 after purchasing an additional 25,182 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,656,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,295,612,000 after purchasing an additional 246,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the third quarter valued at about $4,677,000. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $387.00 target price on Waters in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore upgraded Waters from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Waters in a report on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Waters from $415.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waters presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.56.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT opened at $355.10 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $350.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.79. Waters Corporation has a 52-week low of $275.05 and a 52-week high of $414.15.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Waters had a return on equity of 15.60% and a net margin of 11.91%.The business’s revenue was up 91.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. Waters has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.400-14.600 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Waters Corporation will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waters news, Director Wei Jiang purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $289.46 per share, with a total value of $144,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,441 shares in the company, valued at $996,031.86. This represents a 17.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.