Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Decreases Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lowered its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 97.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 345 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 13,630 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $51,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $124,073,000 after buying an additional 313,155 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,088,000 after buying an additional 203,234 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $22,588,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.3 %

A opened at $133.84 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.65. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.48 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The company 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 business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.54%.

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.