Waterfront Wealth Inc. Takes $211,000 Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Waterfront Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,238,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,030 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,310,000 after acquiring an additional 122,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:A traded down $1.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $133.20. 485,899 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,567,787. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $141.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.48. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market cap of $39.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.14 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

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.