Willis Investment Counsel Makes New Investment in Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS)

Willis Investment Counsel bought a new position in shares of Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 30,458 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,100,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KEYS. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management acquired a new position in Keysight Technologies during the first quarter worth $27,000. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Keysight Technologies in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Keysight Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Keysight Technologies in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, American National Bank grew its position in shares of Keysight Technologies by 1,181.3% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. 81.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Keysight Technologies Price Performance

KEYS traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $132.86. 3,582,691 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,227,626. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.93, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Keysight Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $125.89 and a one year high of $189.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.02.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.15. Keysight Technologies had a net margin of 20.19% and a return on equity of 30.56%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Keysight Technologies, Inc. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KEYS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on Keysight Technologies from $200.00 to $174.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Keysight Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $146.00 to $164.00 in a research report on Monday, September 4th. VNET Group reiterated an “initiates” rating on shares of Keysight Technologies in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Keysight Technologies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Keysight Technologies from $148.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.55.

Keysight Technologies Profile

Keysight Technologies, Inc provides electronic design and test solutions to commercial communications, networking, aerospace, defense and government, automotive, energy, semiconductor, electronic, and education industries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Its Communications Solutions Group segment provides electronic design automation (EDA) software; radio frequency and microwave test solutions, and related software; hardware and virtual network test platforms and software applications, including data center, routing and switching, software defined networking, security, and encryption; oscilloscopes, logic and serial protocol analyzers, logic-signal sources, arbitrary waveform generators, and bit error rate testers; and optical modulation analyzers, optical component analyzers, optical power meters, and optical laser source solutions, as well as resells refurbished used Keysight equipment.