Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Decreases Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC decreased its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,240 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,165 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 525,214 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,193,000 after buying an additional 493,947 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,449,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $33,087,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:A opened at $150.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.06. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $124.16 and a one year high of $155.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.23.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on A. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

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.