Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 46.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,125 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $10,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1,111.1% during the 3rd quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded 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. UBS Group increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock traded up $5.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $139.18. 801,561 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,565,206. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58. The company has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $141.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, 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 three months.

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.