Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 41.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,098 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 17,405 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sienna Gestion grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 78,445 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $10,537,000 after acquiring an additional 17,991 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,898 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Prudential PLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 73,273 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $9,843,000 after purchasing an additional 10,128 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 43,862 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,892,000 after purchasing an additional 3,915 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 49,288 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,802 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on A. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $140.92.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $211,840.74. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $119.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $33.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.92. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.43 and a fifty-two week high of $153.84.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.92% and a net margin of 17.59%. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.44%.

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.

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