Sone Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 45,157 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $6,066,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in A. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 458 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $141.42.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $109.73. The company had a trading volume of 2,379,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,922,250. The company has a market capitalization of $31.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $109.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.76. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.43 and a 1-year 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. Equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

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.