Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Acquired by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 874 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Carmel Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Kepos Capital LP increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Invesco LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.7% in the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $133.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $39.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $151.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $141.21 and its 200-day moving average is $130.08.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

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.