Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $2.32 Million Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,185 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of A. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in 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 last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $137.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Barclays raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective 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, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last 90 days.

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.