Ancora Advisors LLC Purchases 6,558 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 85.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,272 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,558 shares during the quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 7,443 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 48,431 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,506,000 after buying an additional 3,021 shares during the period. Cypress Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $818,000. Keel Point LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,066,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:A traded up $1.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $108.63. 2,093,340 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,887,971. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.97, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.18.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05 % 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.