Simplicity Solutions LLC Raises Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 68.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,587 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings 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 worth $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on A. Barclays upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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 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 Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of A stock opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $141.19 and a 200 day moving average of $129.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during 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%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

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.