Woodline Partners LP Acquires Shares of 66,797 Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Woodline Partners LP purchased 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 SEC. The firm purchased 66,797 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $8,974,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of A. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 102.4% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,781 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 105,304 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $14,173,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,206 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $8,222,000 after buying an additional 22,995 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,268 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on A shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies 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 $4,161,931.02. This represents a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $111.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 650,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,036,136. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.43 and a 52 week high of $153.84. The stock has a market cap of $31.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $108.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.87.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be issued a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.