Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires Shares of 9,467 Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,467 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $1,272,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of A. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 458 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 491 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,479 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $211,840.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,737 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on A. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.42.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock traded down $1.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.61. 1,690,973 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,929,574. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $109.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.26. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.43 and a 12 month high of $153.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. As a group, research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

About Agilent Technologies

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.