Gradient Investments LLC Acquires 551 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 196.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 832 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth about $10,595,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,340,000 after acquiring an additional 6,028 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 7,810 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 723,508 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $100,589,000 after acquiring an additional 171,642 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.27.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $140.04. 1,284,834 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,753,159. The company has a market cap of $40.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $133.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.28.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at $6,595,494.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,527,860 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.