Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 47.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,095 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,557 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kepos Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 326 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings 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 valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In related news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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 research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One equities 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.2 %

A stock opened at $132.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $151.58. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $141.18 and a 200-day moving average of $129.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results 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 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 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.