Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) Given a $275.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

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

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

Watts Water Technologies Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WTS opened at $241.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.53 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.46.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.58 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.33 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies will post 9.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total transaction of $1,692,950.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total transaction of $188,467.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,530,314.40. This trade represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,768 shares of company stock valued at $3,841,417. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Watts Water Technologies

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 57.3% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 329.1% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 236 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 80.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.02% of the company’s stock.

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.