Marshall Financial Group LLC Makes New $1.06 Million Investment in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,161 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,058,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 18.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,884,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,348,471,000 after buying an additional 4,605,228 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,841,659,000 after purchasing an additional 2,170,219 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $509,904,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.4% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,783,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $406,715,000 after purchasing an additional 116,822 shares during the period. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on A. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $153.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $126.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.27.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:A traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $140.04. 1,284,834 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,753,159. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.31. The company has a market cap of $40.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were given a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,274,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.