Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Cuts Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. cut its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 106 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,238,549,000 after acquiring an additional 39,030 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,134 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,097,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $458,162,000 after acquiring an additional 254,998 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,677,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,373,000 after acquiring an additional 124,671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 233.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $370,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,377 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on A shares. Citigroup lifted 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

A stock traded up $5.23 on Tuesday, reaching $139.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,979,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,580,745. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $141.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.08. 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 (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 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.