Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) PT Set at $275.00 by Stifel Nicolaus

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) received a $275.00 price target from analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.07% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Northcoast Research lowered shares of Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

WTS stock opened at $241.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Watts Water Technologies has a 12-month low of $175.37 and a 12-month high of $248.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.64.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.25. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $1,960,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,730. This represents a 74.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total transaction of $188,467.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,530,314.40. This represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock valued at $3,841,417 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Watts Water Technologies during the 1st quarter worth about $571,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in Watts Water Technologies in the first quarter worth $163,000. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 210.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 57,901 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,807,000 after purchasing an additional 39,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 439.0% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 2,431 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980 shares during the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Watts Water Technologies Company Profile

Watts Water Technologies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.