Erste Asset Management GmbH Boosts Stake in Waters Corporation $WAT

Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 64.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,542 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 9,241 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Waters were worth $9,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Waters by 3.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,656,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,295,612,000 after buying an additional 246,128 shares during the period. Fundsmith LLP lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith LLP now owns 3,955,498 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,185,898,000 after purchasing an additional 347,091 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,590 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,472,419 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $441,446,000 after purchasing an additional 359,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Waters by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. now owns 1,356,289 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $406,629,000 after purchasing an additional 135,504 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WAT. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Waters in a research note on Monday, April 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Waters to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Evercore upgraded Waters from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Waters in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waters has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Wei Jiang bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $289.46 per share, for a total transaction of $144,730.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,031.86. The trade was a 17.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of WAT opened at $363.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $35.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.21. Waters Corporation has a twelve month low of $275.05 and a twelve month high of $414.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $332.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $350.61.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Waters had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 15.60%. Waters’s revenue was up 91.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.25 earnings per share. Waters has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.950-3.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.400-14.600 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Waters Corporation will post 14.5 earnings per share 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.