Procyon Advisors LLC Sells 209 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $393,291,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 939.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,296,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $256,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,649 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,377 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $184,437,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. TheStreet raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 8th. Bank of America cut Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $130.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.6 %

A traded down $0.85 on Thursday, hitting $146.52. The company had a trading volume of 168,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,619,804. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc provides application focused solutions to the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers liquid chromatography systems and components; liquid chromatography mass spectrometry systems; gas chromatography systems and components; gas chromatography mass spectrometry systems; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instruments; atomic absorption instruments; microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometry instruments; inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry instruments; raman spectroscopy; cell analysis plate based assays; flow cytometer; real-time cell analyzer; cell imaging systems; microplate reader; laboratory software; information management and analytics; laboratory automation and robotic systems; dissolution testing; and vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.