B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 15,697 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,331,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 114.8% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 68.3% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $131.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $137.97 and its 200 day moving average is $137.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.48 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 19.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

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.