Jones Financial Companies Lllp Purchases 54,144 Shares of Waters Corporation $WAT

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 22.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 290,936 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,144 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Waters were worth $108,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Waters during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,182,191,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Waters by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,638,772 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $488,028,000 after buying an additional 348,379 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Waters by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,593,388 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $602,921,000 after buying an additional 8,590 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 32.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,472,419 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $441,446,000 after buying an additional 359,596 shares during the period. Finally, Veritas Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Waters by 112.3% during the fourth quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,241,206 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $471,447,000 after acquiring an additional 656,436 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christopher A. Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total value of $1,442,930.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. This represents a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $387.00 price target on Waters in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $435.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $408.00 to $475.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Waters from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Waters from $425.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $420.35.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $410.79 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $382.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $347.24. Waters Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $282.77 and a fifty-two week high of $421.74. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 3.58%.The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’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. Analysts expect 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.