Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $443.79

Shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $457.50.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Waters from $465.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Waters from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. HSBC boosted their price target on Waters from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $440.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Waters from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th.

Waters Stock Down 3.9%

WAT stock opened at $461.42 on Friday. Waters has a fifty-two week low of $282.77 and a fifty-two week high of $482.28. 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 capitalization of $45.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.07, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $430.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $370.55.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Waters’s revenue 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, equities analysts anticipate that Waters will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waters news, Director Christopher Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,515.52. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waters

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pilgrim Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Waters in the second quarter valued at about $466,131,171,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Waters during the second quarter worth about $3,182,191,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Waters by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,382,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,643,428,000 after purchasing an additional 19,998 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Waters during the second quarter worth about $623,921,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Waters by 69.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,373,150 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $514,986,000 after purchasing an additional 561,824 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.01% of the company’s stock.

About Waters

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) develops and manufactures analytical technologies used to measure, identify and characterize chemical and biological substances. Its customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, industrial manufacturers, academic and government laboratories, and organizations involved in food, environmental and clinical testing.

The company’s product portfolio includes high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-performance liquid chromatography systems, mass spectrometers, chromatography columns and consumables, and laboratory software for data management and analysis.