Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Trims Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,234 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $15,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CKW Financial Group increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 187 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 68.3% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:A opened at $134.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $141.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.41. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.16 and a 12-month high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. 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. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays raised Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.38.

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.