GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 102.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,983 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third 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 during the period. AXA S.A. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 32.3% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $47,049,000 after acquiring an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth about $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 29.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 7,111 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.7 %

A stock opened at $135.69 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $135.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.67. The company has a market cap of $38.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.09.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.248 dividend. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Barclays lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.62.

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.