Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 1,504 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,511 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,504 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $4,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 62.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,193,000 after purchasing an additional 493,947 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth about $49,449,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $87,075,000 after purchasing an additional 227,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,087,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on A shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of A opened at $145.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $141.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.19. The stock has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.40%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

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.