Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Has $319,000 Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 48.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,192 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A opened at $132.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Agilent Technologies Company 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.