Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Purchases New Shares in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,454 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 48.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $124,073,000 after buying an additional 313,155 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $87,075,000 after acquiring an additional 227,431 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,088,000 after acquiring an additional 203,234 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,011,000 after acquiring an additional 183,716 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.3 %

A opened at $133.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a PEG ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $137.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.65. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.48 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. 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 business earned $1.43 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.248 dividend. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on A shares. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.36.

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.