Argent Trust Co Purchases Shares of 1,469 Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Argent Trust Co purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,469 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 32,943,190 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,004,242,000 after acquiring an additional 629,153 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,955,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,033,368,000 after acquiring an additional 257,455 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,152,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,598,661,000 after acquiring an additional 73,495 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,478,670 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $787,483,000 after acquiring an additional 627,517 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,341,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $500,091,000 after acquiring an additional 223,008 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $119.49 on Friday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $112.52 and a one year high of $160.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.52 and a 200-day moving average of $143.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market cap of $35.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.03.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 23rd. The medical research company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.01. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.19% and a return on equity of 30.11%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be given a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of several analyst reports. 58.com reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Wednesday. 888 reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $168.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.35.

About Agilent Technologies

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Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.