Humankind Investments LLC Purchases 234 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Humankind Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,827 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Humankind Investments LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 101,225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,732,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 370.0% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 124,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $16,735,000 after acquiring an additional 98,068 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $835,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 183.7% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 38,203 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,132,000 after acquiring an additional 24,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,436,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $596,026,000 after acquiring an additional 38,348 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays cut 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 research note on Thursday, April 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

A opened at $106.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.76. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.43 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The company has a market capitalization of $30.49 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

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.