Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Purchased by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 461,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,933 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Agilent Technologies worth $62,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in A. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,903,498,000 after purchasing an additional 158,175 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,028,241,000 after buying an additional 30,610 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,316,557 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $445,546,000 after buying an additional 17,627 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $434,625,000 after buying an additional 258,358 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,603,000 after acquiring an additional 80,819 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A opened at $116.55 on Friday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $116.36 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Barclays raised Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.83.

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.