FourThought Financial LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

FourThought Financial LLC trimmed its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 908 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 24,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 4,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,638 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,139 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $158.00 to $168.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $170.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. Finally, SVB Leerink boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.31.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.7 %

NYSE:A opened at $133.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.04. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.52 and a twelve month high of $160.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $148.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.93.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.09% and a return on equity of 30.35%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.68 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 3rd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.32%.

Agilent Technologies announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 9th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 4.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

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Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.