FourThought Financial LLC Sells 77 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

FourThought Financial LLC decreased its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 908 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. BlueSpruce Investments LP purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at about $223,829,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 42.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,851,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $694,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,168 shares during the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at about $127,895,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 67.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,336,607 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,203,000 after purchasing an additional 942,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 196.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,242,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,433,000 after purchasing an additional 823,300 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on A shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.31.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $133.18 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $148.54 and a 200 day moving average of $142.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 2.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $112.52 and a 52-week high of $160.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.04.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.09% and a return on equity of 30.35%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 20.32%.

Agilent Technologies declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 9th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 4.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Agilent Technologies Profile

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Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.