California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 619,329 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 11,737 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $86,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Kepos Capital LP grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Invesco LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.7% in the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Balentine LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $137.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $141.50 and its 200 day moving average is $130.33. 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.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

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