Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,888 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,903,498,000 after purchasing an additional 158,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,028,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,610 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,603,000 after buying an additional 80,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted 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 during the period. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $142.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.55 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $136.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.86.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on A. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.62.

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.