Waters (NYSE:WAT) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $381.29, but opened at $332.29. Waters shares last traded at $336.9170, with a volume of 363,895 shares changing hands.

Waters News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Waters this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Closed the Reverse Morris Trust combination with BD’s Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions, creating a larger life‑sciences company and adding scale and product breadth; management named Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D. to the leadership team. Waters Completes Combination with BD’s Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions Businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat consensus: $4.53 EPS vs. $4.50 expected and revenue roughly in line, demonstrating underlying profitability and margin strength ahead of integration synergies. Waters (WAT) Beats Q4 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts reaffirmed bullish views and initiated coverage with high targets (Guggenheim $440 PT; Citigroup $425 PT), indicating conviction on longer‑term upside from the BD deal and margin improvement. Analyst Coverage Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Full‑year 2026 EPS guidance was set at $14.30–$14.50, roughly in line with consensus—suggests management expects the BD integration to support margins over the year, but it doesn’t alleviate near‑term concerns. Waters forecasts first-quarter profit below Wall Street estimates, shares slide
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 2026 EPS guidance (2.25–2.35) came in below the street (~2.52), triggering an immediate sell‑off as investors price in weaker near‑term earnings while integration costs and seasonality play out. Waters forecasts weak first-quarter profit, shares slide
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms trimmed targets or reiterated caution (Bank of America cut its PT to $350, TD Cowen lowered its PT and kept a Hold), reflecting concerns about BD Life Sciences weakness and a reduced premium valuation near‑term. TD Cowen Hold / PT Cut
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary highlights the stock underperforming peers amid the guidance reset and integration uncertainty, contributing to the downward pressure on the share price today. Waters Corp. stock underperforms Monday when compared to competitors

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAT has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair started coverage on Waters in a research report on Monday, January 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded Waters from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $363.00 price objective on Waters in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Waters from $395.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Waters in a report on Monday, December 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $423.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.84.

Waters Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $385.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $347.69.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.50 by $0.03. Waters had a return on equity of 36.45% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company had revenue of $932.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.10 EPS. Waters’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Waters has set its FY 2026 guidance at 14.300-14.500 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Waters Corporation will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Waters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Waters by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 3,111 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Waters during the fourth quarter worth $4,788,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,723 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,833,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in shares of Waters by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,930 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Waters

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.