Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,483 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,304 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $8,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 33,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 49,413 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,525,000 after acquiring an additional 8,063 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.8% in the third quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 4.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,677,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,373,000 after acquiring an additional 124,671 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 2,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on A shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.4 %

A stock opened at $139.47 on Friday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58. 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’s fifty day moving average is $141.92 and its 200 day moving average is $131.30. The firm has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were given a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

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.