Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,749,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 153,630 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $382,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of A. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1,111.1% during the third quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on A shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup increased 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 boosted 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. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, 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 value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last ninety days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.3 %

A stock traded up $1.85 during trading on Monday, reaching $139.59. The stock had a trading volume of 781,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,552,781. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $141.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $40.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 4.17 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.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.