Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 1,173 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 144,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,173 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC owned about 0.05% of Agilent Technologies worth $19,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,087 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 19,141 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 80,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,913,000 after acquiring an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 135,581 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $20,131,000 after acquiring an additional 2,049 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on A shares. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.15.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.6 %

A stock opened at $127.83 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $140.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.15. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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.