NewEdge Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,354 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kepos Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 41.1% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 326 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A opened at $134.55 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58. The company has a market cap of $39.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 1.11. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $141.22 and a 200-day moving average of $129.48.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Agilent Technologies 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.