Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Short Interest Up 24.6% in February

Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, a growth of 24.6% from the February 13th total of 1,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 470,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WAT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Waters from $415.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised shares of Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Waters from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $391.07.

Waters Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE WAT opened at $381.99 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $391.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $370.97. The company has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Waters has a 12-month low of $279.24 and a 12-month high of $423.56.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a net margin of 21.56% and a return on equity of 46.31%. On average, research analysts expect that Waters will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAT. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Waters by 106,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 3,087,461 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,145,386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,084,555 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter valued at about $284,415,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Waters by 3,349.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 304,404 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $112,928,000 after acquiring an additional 295,580 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter valued at about $104,645,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Waters by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 656,019 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $236,095,000 after purchasing an additional 271,804 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Waters

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.