Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Stock Position Decreased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,854 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 78,159 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,938,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 124.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 24,273 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 13,460 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,869 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 324,669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 36,711.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 56,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,560,000 after acquiring an additional 56,536 shares in the last quarter. 95.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Watts Water Technologies

In related news, major shareholder Timothy P. Horne sold 7,000 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.85, for a total transaction of $1,692,950.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Monica Barry sold 768 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.40, for a total value of $188,467.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 6,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,530,314.40. The trade was a 10.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,768 shares of company stock valued at $3,841,417. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Northcoast Research cut Watts Water Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $275.00 target price on Watts Water Technologies and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Four 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, Watts Water Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $231.20.

Watts Water Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $251.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 28.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.12. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $177.59 and a 12 month high of $260.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.29.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $558.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 9.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a boost from Watts Water Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.83%.

About Watts Water Technologies

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.