John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 2,476 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. cut its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,476 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last 90 days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $132.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,299,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,579,706. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.50.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.38%.

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.