Procyon Advisors LLC Sells 209 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 31,853,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,830,344,000 after buying an additional 349,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,246,209,000 after buying an additional 261,435 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,214,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,591,990,000 after buying an additional 253,729 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,238,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,030 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,134 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction 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 $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. UBS Group raised 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.29.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.6 %

Agilent Technologies stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $146.52. 168,027 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,619,804. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $137.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 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.