Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 31,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,028 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $4,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 95.7% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,185 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after buying an additional 4,980 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $311,000. Oak Family Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC now owns 4,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 16,265 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.2 %

A opened at $132.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $141.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.79. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $151.58.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last three months.

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.