Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 18,959 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,361 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 18,959 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Agilent Technologies worth $23,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,250,276,000 after purchasing an additional 59,781 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,002,671 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $938,291,000 after buying an additional 53,992 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,213,739 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $700,414,000 after buying an additional 47,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $456,963,000. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,316,557 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $445,546,000 after acquiring an additional 17,627 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:A traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $106.46. 1,522,273 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,875,860. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.19. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.43 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $211,840.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies 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.