NewEdge Wealth LLC Takes $327,000 Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,354 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,246,209,000 after buying an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,238,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,030 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,310,000 after purchasing an additional 122,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after buying an additional 1,835,413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research 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.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:A opened at $134.55 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $141.22 and a 200 day moving average of $129.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.