First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,661 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 366 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% in the second 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 period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 68.3% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 29,300.0% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 294 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen upped their target price 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $283,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,497,110. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,995 shares of company stock valued at $1,739,510 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A opened at $130.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.26 and a 12-month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. The company’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 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.50%.

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.