Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $215,000 Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 68.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on A. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $139.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $136.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.44. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $124.16 and a one year high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $39.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.