Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Grows Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Kepos Capital LP raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 41.1% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 326 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 8.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. 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 90 days.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:A opened at $132.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. 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 $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.65.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. 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.