Waters Corporation $WAT Shares Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 209.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,069 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,825 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $34,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WAT. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Waters by 112.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 200,051 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $73,733,000 after purchasing an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Waters by 16.6% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,126 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth about $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WAT. Evercore upgraded Waters from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Waters from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $394.56.

Waters Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of WAT stock opened at $356.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $35.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.34, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $347.65. Waters Corporation has a 1-year low of $275.05 and a 1-year high of $414.15.

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