A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WTS. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 12.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 41.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 881 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 14.8% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 79,951 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,160,000 after buying an additional 10,288 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies in the first quarter valued at about $2,395,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Watts Water Technologies in the first quarter worth about $14,626,000. 75.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Watts Water Technologies Price Performance
WTS stock opened at $204.89 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $201.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.77. The company has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.25 and a 52-week high of $219.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.61.
Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The technology company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $547.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $532.58 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.75% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.
Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.41%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $199.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $191.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.60.
Insider Activity
In related news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $152,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,832,964. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Watts Water Technologies news, insider Elie Melhem sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.50, for a total value of $498,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,706,018. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $152,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,832,964. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,593 shares of company stock valued at $715,898 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.
