Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Stock Holdings Increased by Bayforest Capital Ltd

Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its position in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 439.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,431 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,980 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTS. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 90.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 30,111 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,122,000 after acquiring an additional 14,288 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,459 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 284,602 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,860,000 after acquiring an additional 17,163 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Watts Water Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,887,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 28,762 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,847,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. 95.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Northcoast Research downgraded Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.20.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WTS opened at $261.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $223.14. The company has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.12. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $177.59 and a 12-month high of $261.96.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $547.58 million. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 13.07%. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 23.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Watts Water Technologies news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total value of $1,692,950.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,236 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock worth $3,841,417 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% 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.