First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 835 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,483 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 835 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Vantage Wealth boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vantage Wealth now owns 109,590 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,722,000 after buying an additional 2,980 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 179,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $24,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,268 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,206 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,222,000 after acquiring an additional 22,995 shares during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE A opened at $150.74 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.09. The company has a market cap of $43.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $138.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.23.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on A shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.