Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lessened its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,620 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $3,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after buying an additional 525,214 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,193,000 after purchasing an additional 493,947 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,449,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $434,625,000 after purchasing an additional 258,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $87,075,000 after purchasing an additional 227,431 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on A. Bank of America decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.15.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $127.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.16 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $36.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $140.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.20.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.40%.

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.