Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp cut its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 11.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 218,187 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 29,262 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $28,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 18.9% in the first quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 440 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.7% in the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 4,423 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.6% during the second quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $628,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.4% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wolfe Research cut Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.93.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A opened at $148.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $155.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $138.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.05.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $283,910.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,497,110. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,906 shares of company stock worth $2,006,580 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.