International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys New Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 76,209 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $10,595,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Column Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1,111.1% in the 3rd quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE A traded down $4.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $140.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,124,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,480,977. The company has a market capitalization of $41.24 billion, a PE ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $141.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on A. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $141.29.

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.