Agilent Technologies, Inc. $A Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its Agilent Technologies stake by 2.9% in the third quarter, selling 17,741 shares and retaining 597,641 shares valued at approximately $103 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.41% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 18 Buy ratings and four Hold ratings. Agilent has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $181.45.
• Agilent exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.62 in EPS and $1.88 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 8.1% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.255 per share, equivalent to a 0.6% annualized yield.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 597,641 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 17,741 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Agilent Technologies worth $102,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter worth about $58,539,000. Dudley & Shanley Inc. raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 25.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 69,500 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $9,232,000 after buying an additional 14,300 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $834,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,818,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 18.4% in the 2nd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 81,883 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $10,877,000 after acquiring an additional 12,719 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on A. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Thursday, July 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $135.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $180.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $181.45.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $172.01 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $108.35 and a 52-week high of $182.99. The stock has a market cap of $48.49 billion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.37 and a 200-day moving average of $136.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.05.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The medical research company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.13. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 19.53%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Agilent Technologies has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.710-1.740 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.180-6.210 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 6.20 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 6th were issued a $0.2550 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is currently 20.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mikael Dolsten sold 634 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.38, for a total transaction of $95,974.92. Following the sale, the director owned 4,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at $745,395.12. This represents a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc is a global provider of analytical laboratory instruments, software, services and consumables. The company serves customers in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, food, environmental, energy and academic research sectors, as well as diagnostic and clinical laboratories.

Agilent's offerings include liquid and gas chromatography systems, mass spectrometry instruments, spectroscopy and atomic instruments, laboratory automation products, genomic and cell analysis solutions, and related software.

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