Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Stock Holdings Lifted by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares during the quarter. Agilent Technologies accounts for 0.7% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.05% of Agilent Technologies worth $2,314,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of A. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 440 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% during the second quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 3.1% during the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,049 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on A. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:A opened at $128.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $138.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.76. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $121.23 and a one year high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

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.