Godsey & Gibb Inc. Has $16.28 Million Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 2,175 shares during the quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $16,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in A. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 286.2% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 640.0% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 222 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $115.90 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.43 and a 1-year high of $153.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.23.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 25.92%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 24.44%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $211,840.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This represents a 4.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares in the company, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.15.

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.