Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) Shares Acquired by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:WTS) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,809 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Watts Water Technologies were worth $571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WTS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 316,407 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,556,000 after acquiring an additional 9,148 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Watts Water Technologies by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,484,000 after buying an additional 4,967 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Watts Water Technologies by 4.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 267,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,411,000 after buying an additional 12,159 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Watts Water Technologies by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 977,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,425,000 after buying an additional 8,314 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Watts Water Technologies during the second quarter valued at about $2,897,000. 95.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Watts Water Technologies from $202.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Northcoast Research upgraded Watts Water Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Watts Water Technologies in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Watts Water Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $220.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Watts Water Technologies news, CFO Shashank Patel sold 4,569 shares of Watts Water Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.10, for a total transaction of $955,377.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 15,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,269,278.50. The trade was a 22.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert J. Pagano, Jr. sold 20,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.20, for a total value of $4,415,882.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 176,045 shares in the company, valued at $37,356,749. This trade represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,974 shares of company stock worth $6,924,594. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Watts Water Technologies Price Performance

Watts Water Technologies stock opened at $210.52 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $209.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.67. The firm has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.37 and a 52-week high of $222.70.

Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS) last released 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. Watts Water Technologies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $543.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $541.83 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.04 earnings per share. Watts Water Technologies’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Watts Water Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Watts Water Technologies’s payout ratio is 20.62%.

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.