GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 899 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $933,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Kepos Capital LP raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.7% in the third quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on A. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of A opened at $137.74 on Monday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

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.