Delta Investment Management LLC Invests $227,000 in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Delta Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on A. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $137.74. 754,945 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,245,651. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $141.59 and a 200 day moving average of $130.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

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.