Vident Advisory LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 326.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 118,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,349 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $15,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of A. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,250,276,000 after buying an additional 59,781 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,002,671 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $938,291,000 after buying an additional 53,992 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,213,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $700,414,000 after buying an additional 47,495 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,436,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $596,026,000 after buying an additional 38,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,192,790 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $563,259,000 after buying an additional 457,713 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on A. Barclays lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A opened at $113.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.43 and a 1 year high of $154.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.16. The company has a market cap of $32.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.27.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $211,840.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This represents a 4.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

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.