Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 54.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,211 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,749,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $382,313,000 after buying an additional 153,630 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 1,935 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,872 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Monumental Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Gitterman Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth $360,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on A. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI increased 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 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 directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:A opened at $142.80 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $142.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.24. The firm has a market cap of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

About Agilent Technologies

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.