Waters Corporation (WAT) Stock Forecast and Price Target (2026)
Last updated July 2026
Short answer
23 analysts covering Waters Corporation (WAT) carry an average price target of $436.00 as of August 2026, +5.2% against the $414.44 price at the time of the pull. The published targets run from $349.00 to $475.00, a spread of 29% of the average, so the disagreement is narrow. The rating split is 16 buy, 8 hold, 0 sell. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
WAT analyst price targets
WAT analyst data as of August 2026, sourced from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a forecast Walnut endorses, and targets are typically set on a 12-month view. Verify current figures before deciding.
The average target of $436.00 sits roughly in line with the $414.44 price, +5.2%. The median is $440.00, and where the two differ the median is the steadier read, because one unusually high or low target cannot drag it.
What the WAT target range actually tells you
The published targets span $349.00 to $475.00. That gap is 29% of the average target, which counts as narrow disagreement. A spread that tight means the analysts broadly agree on the model, so the consensus is a reasonably stable read rather than an average of wildly different views.
The useful move is to read the high target as one bull scenario and the low target as one bear scenario, then ask which set of assumptions you find more plausible. Both cases are worked through on the WAT is it a buy page.
Recent analyst actions on WAT
| Firm | Action | Target | Prior | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citigroup | Raised (Buy) | $470.00 | $425.00 | August 10, 2026 |
| TD Cowen | Raised (Buy) | $475.00 | $408.00 | August 5, 2026 |
| RBC Capital | Raised (Outperform) | $475.00 | $435.00 | August 5, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI Group | Raised (Outperform) | $420.00 | $410.00 | August 5, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Raised (Equal-Weight) | $400.00 | $370.00 | August 5, 2026 |
| Barclays | Raised (Overweight) | $460.00 | $425.00 | August 5, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Raised (Buy) | $425.00 | $380.00 | July 14, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Raised (Equal-Weight) | $390.00 | $350.00 | July 9, 2026 |
| RBC Capital | Initiated (Outperform) | $435.00 | - | July 9, 2026 |
| Guggenheim | Maintained (Buy) | $440.00 | $440.00 | July 8, 2026 |
| Evercore ISI Group | Raised (Outperform) | $410.00 | $380.00 | July 6, 2026 |
| Piper Sandler | Initiated (Neutral) | $400.00 | - | June 11, 2026 |
The most recent published rating actions on WAT within the last six months, from Yahoo Finance. Each row is dated because a target only means something alongside the date it was set. Walnut is not an investment adviser and does not endorse any of these views.
In the last six months there have been 9 raises and 0 cuts among these actions. The direction of revisions is often more telling than the level, because it shows which way informed opinion is moving.
How analysts rate WAT
Of the analysts with a published rating, 16 say buy, 8 say hold, and 0 say sell, so 67% carry a buy. That buy share has risen over the last three months, so sentiment is drifting more positive.
Read the distribution rather than the label. Sell ratings are rare across the entire market for structural reasons, so a stock with no sell ratings is unremarkable, while even a handful of them is worth understanding.
Why a WAT price target is not a prediction
- It is a 12-month model output. An analyst picks assumptions for revenue, margin, and a multiple, and the target falls out of the arithmetic. Change one assumption and the target moves a lot.
- The distribution is skewed. Sell-side coverage carries far more buy ratings than sell ratings across the whole market, so the average is not a balanced vote.
- Targets follow price as often as they lead it. Revisions frequently arrive after a move, not before, which is why a rising target is weak evidence on its own.
- Nobody is scored on it. There is no cost to a target that never gets close, so treat accuracy as unverified unless you check the firm's record yourself.
What could move WAT from here
In short: the drivers cited most often are The BD combination closed, and Waters kept the ticker, Recurring revenue is the real engine, The replacement cycle after the 2023 to 2024 trough. The risk cited most often against it is integration risk is the dominant one, because the acquired revenue is close to the size of legacy Waters and diagnostics is a category this management team has not run before.
Both sides are worked through properly, with the high and low targets used as the bull and bear anchors, on the WAT is it a buy page. This page deliberately stops at the numbers.
Investing in Waters Corporation with AI
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FAQ
What is the price target for Waters Corporation (WAT)?
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The average analyst price target for WAT is $436.00 as of August 2026, across 23 analysts. That is +5.2% against the $414.44 price at the time of the data pull, so the consensus sits roughly in line with where the stock trades. The median target, which is less distorted by one extreme view, is $440.00. Targets move constantly; verify the current figure before relying on it.
How high could WAT go?
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The highest published target is $475.00, which is +14.6% against the $414.44 price. That is one analyst's most optimistic case, not a ceiling and not a forecast. The lowest is $349.00. The gap between them is the honest answer to this question: analysts who all follow Waters Corporation closely disagree by 29% of the average target, so treat any single number as one scenario.
How many analysts cover WAT?
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23 analysts publish estimates on WAT as of August 2026. Of those with a published rating, 16 say buy, 8 hold, and 0 sell, so 67% carry a buy rating. More coverage usually means the consensus is better informed, though it also means the obvious points are already in the price.
Are analyst price targets for WAT accurate?
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Treat them as informed opinion, not measurement. Two things are worth knowing. Sell-side ratings skew positive across the market, and WAT is no exception at 67% buy ratings, so the distribution is not a balanced vote. And targets tend to follow the share price at least as often as they lead it, getting raised after a stock has already run. They are most useful as a read on what the informed consensus expects, and least useful as a prediction of where the price lands.
Has the WAT price target been raised or cut recently?
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In the last six months there have been 9 raises and 0 cuts among the published actions on WAT. The most recent was Citigroup, which raised its target to $470.00 from $425.00 on August 10, 2026. The direction of revisions often tells you more than the level, because it shows which way the informed view is moving.
Is analyst sentiment on WAT improving?
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Over the last three months the share of analysts rating WAT a buy has been rising. That is a shift in opinion, not in the business, and it often lags the news that caused it. It is worth watching alongside the target revisions rather than on its own.
Will WAT go up in 2026?
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Nobody knows, including the analysts publishing targets. What the numbers on this page tell you is where informed opinion currently sits and how much it disagrees with itself, which is genuinely useful and completely different from a prediction. The risk most often cited against Waters Corporation: Integration risk is the dominant one, because the acquired revenue is close to the size of legacy Waters and diagnostics is a category this management team has not run before. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice, and does not publish price targets of its own. The analyst figures on this page come from a August 2026 data pull of published third-party research, are approximate, and change constantly. Verify current figures with your broker before acting on them.