Headlands Technologies LLC Takes Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,607 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,238,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,030 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,146,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,134 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,097,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $458,162,000 after purchasing an additional 254,998 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,677,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $299,373,000 after purchasing an additional 124,671 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,377 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $137.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $141.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58. 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 (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 the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on A. Citigroup boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.