Spire Wealth Management Raises Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1,228.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,039 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 80.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 271 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 85.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on A. TheStreet lowered Agilent Technologies from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Thursday, September 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $123.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $124.00 to $120.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.44.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $111.61 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $160.26. The company has a market cap of $32.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $110.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.25.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 15th. The medical research company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 2nd. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 23.56%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.78, for a total transaction of $415,730.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 24,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,876,732.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies Profile

Agilent Technologies, Inc provides application focused solutions to the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets worldwide. 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; vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.