Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in A. Kepos Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 41.1% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 326 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco LLC increased its position 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 worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $140.73 on Monday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $151.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $41.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given 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 of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, 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.