Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 3,509 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,343 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,509 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $16,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 286.2% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 640.0% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 222 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. 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 cut Agilent Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $140.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the 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 owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This represents 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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $115.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $110.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.03. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.43 and a 52-week high of $153.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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