Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires New Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,932 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $1,630,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,250,276,000 after buying an additional 59,781 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,002,671 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $938,291,000 after buying an additional 53,992 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,341,870 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $624,888,000 after buying an additional 128,131 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,436,700 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $596,026,000 after purchasing an additional 38,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,192,790 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $563,259,000 after acquiring an additional 457,713 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,508 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $177,099.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 37,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,397,893.12. The trade was a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on A shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $139.77.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $120.17. 1,972,723 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,755,995. The business has a fifty day moving average of $116.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $34.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.23. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.43 and a 1 year high of $153.84.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st were paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is 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.