Waters (NYSE:WAT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Waters (NYSE:WAT) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Waters from $465.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $400.00 to $480.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Waters from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Waters in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $435.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $441.68.

Waters Stock Performance

NYSE:WAT opened at $433.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $416.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $371.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $42.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.09, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. Waters has a 1-year low of $282.77 and a 1-year high of $454.54.

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

Insider Activity at Waters

In other news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,086,515.52. This trade represents a 16.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waters

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Waters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $466,131,171,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Waters during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,182,191,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Waters during the 2nd quarter valued at $623,921,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Waters by 69.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,373,150 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $514,986,000 after purchasing an additional 561,824 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Waters by 2,281.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 538,713 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $204,619,000 after purchasing an additional 516,094 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.