Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Purchased by Fidelis Capital Partners LLC

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 261,435 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 39,030 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,519,134 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,310,000 after acquiring an additional 122,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Agilent Technologies news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last three months.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A opened at $132.73 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $151.58. The stock has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly 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. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

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