Natixis Advisors L.P. Increases Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 76,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 12,630 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $10,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of A. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 123.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,550 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 3,063 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,387,080 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $331,876,000 after acquiring an additional 90,568 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $441,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,343 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE A opened at $141.27 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58. The firm has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $142.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.