Quest Partners LLC Grows Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 339.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,300 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 8.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 203,234 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,386,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,302,000 after acquiring an additional 52,550 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE A opened at $128.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $121.23 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $138.06 and its 200 day moving average is $137.76.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

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.