Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 8,700 Keysight Technologies Inc. $KEYS

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Keysight Technologies, buying 8,700 shares worth about $2.46 million in the first quarter.
• Keysight reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.87 beating estimates and revenue of $1.72 billion, up 31.5% from a year ago.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $371.92; several firms also recently raised their targets.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 8,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $2,457,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Keysight Technologies by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,525,694 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,373,806,000 after acquiring an additional 101,856 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Keysight Technologies by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,419,811 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,539,532,000 after purchasing an additional 85,693 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Keysight Technologies by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,191,895 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,664,511,000 after purchasing an additional 200,279 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in Keysight Technologies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,870,268 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $851,525,000 after purchasing an additional 160,728 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Keysight Technologies by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,940,767 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $800,732,000 after purchasing an additional 240,058 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.58% of the company's stock.

Keysight Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:KEYS opened at $339.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.90, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $347.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.93. Keysight Technologies Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $152.85 and a fifty-two week high of $374.96.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.32 by $0.55. Keysight Technologies had a return on equity of 21.58% and a net margin of 17.25%.The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 31.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Keysight Technologies has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.430-2.490 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Keysight Technologies Inc. will post 9.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James Cullen sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.58, for a total transaction of $1,039,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,821 shares in the company, valued at $7,562,722.18. This trade represents a 12.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satish Dhanasekaran sold 507 shares of Keysight Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.32, for a total value of $183,189.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 121,391 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,860,996.12. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KEYS. Zacks Research raised shares of Keysight Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Keysight Technologies from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Keysight Technologies in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Keysight Technologies from $310.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Keysight Technologies from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Keysight Technologies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $371.92.

Keysight Technologies Company Profile

Keysight Technologies is a global provider of electronic design, test, measurement and optimization solutions for communications, electronics and related industries. The company was formed as a corporate spin-off from Agilent Technologies in 2014; its origins trace back to the electronic measurement business that was part of Hewlett‑Packard before Agilent. Keysight develops hardware and software used throughout the product development lifecycle, from design and simulation to prototype validation and manufacturing test.

Keysight's product portfolio includes electronic test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, network and spectrum analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers and modular PXI-based systems, together with software platforms for simulation, automated test and data analysis.

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