Waters (NYSE:WAT) Stock Rating Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Waters (NYSE:WAT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

WAT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Waters from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on shares of Waters in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Waters from $440.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Waters from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $441.68.

Waters Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE WAT opened at $433.45 on Friday. Waters has a 52 week low of $282.77 and a 52 week high of $454.54. 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 capitalization of $42.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $416.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $371.40.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Waters had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 3.58%. The firm’s revenue was up 113.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. 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, equities research analysts predict that Waters will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total transaction of $1,442,930.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waters

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WAT. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Waters by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,273 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Waters by 29.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 1,131 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Waters by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,382,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,643,428,000 after acquiring an additional 19,998 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Waters during the second quarter worth $14,274,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Waters by 7.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 464,501 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $174,206,000 after acquiring an additional 32,355 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.