Ninety One North America Inc. Purchases 7,547 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ninety One North America Inc. lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,873 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,547 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $7,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $895,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 7.3% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,785,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,246,209,000 after acquiring an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on A. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target 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, UBS Group boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $133.68. 1,032,857 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,576,344. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58. The business’s 50-day moving average is $141.22 and its 200-day moving average is $129.48.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The company 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%. Agilent Technologies’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 business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 link. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last quarter.

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.