OFI Invest Asset Management Buys New Shares in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 287 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after buying an additional 7,111 shares during the period. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 42,587 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,721,000 after buying an additional 4,805 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,314,784,000 after buying an additional 525,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays raised shares of 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.15.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $122.02 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $139.42 and a 200 day moving average of $138.55. The firm has a market cap of $34.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.45 and a 1 year high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies 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.