Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Holdings in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,282 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 551 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $6,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 6,312 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 11.1% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,616 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 2.5% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,390 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 741,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $153,708,000 after buying an additional 30,688 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Watts Water Technologies by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,272 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Watts Water Technologies in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Watts Water Technologies from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Three 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 4,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.10, for a total transaction of $955,377.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 15,635 shares in the company, valued at $3,269,278.50. The trade was a 22.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Kenneth Robert Lepage sold 2,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.72, for a total transaction of $554,561.04. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,437,133.04. This trade represents a 18.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,974 shares of company stock valued at $6,924,594 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Watts Water Technologies Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE WTS opened at $214.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $175.37 and a 12-month high of $222.70.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $541.83 million. Watts Water Technologies had a net margin of 12.37% and a return on equity of 18.49%. Watts Water Technologies’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Watts Water Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Watts Water Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.62%.

Watts Water Technologies 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.