Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 22.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,746 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,475 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 18.9% during the first quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 440 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 4,423 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on A. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.06.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE A traded down $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $136.89. The company had a trading volume of 538,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,756,684. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.23.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 26.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total transaction of $1,999,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,527,860. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.