Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Cuts Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 81.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 12,783 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after acquiring an additional 809,149 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.2% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,088,000 after purchasing an additional 203,234 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,386,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,302,000 after buying an additional 52,550 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on A. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $131.94 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $137.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.48 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The company has a market capitalization of $37.91 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

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

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.