Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by PGGM Investments

PGGM Investments reduced its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,732 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,669 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $3,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Kepos Capital LP lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last 90 days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $137.74 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.38%.

Agilent Technologies 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.