Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,678,755 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,490 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.57% of Agilent Technologies worth $233,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 3,162 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 43.9% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 49,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,435,000 after acquiring an additional 14,966 shares during the period. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $221,000. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $273,000.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last ninety days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE A opened at $142.80 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58. The company has a market cap of $41.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $142.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.24.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.