Xponance Inc. Decreases Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Xponance Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 35.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,363 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 22,652 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $5,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the first quarter worth $938,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 953.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,757,000 after acquiring an additional 29,590 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,609,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,758,000 after acquiring an additional 343,175 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 26.2% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,770 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 4,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 2,116,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $294,307,000 after acquiring an additional 467,451 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.60.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,650,640. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $141.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $138.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $155.35. 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 company has a market cap of $41.39 billion, a PE ratio of 33.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.