WASHINGTON TRUST Co Grows Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1,187.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,481 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Column Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1,111.1% during the 3rd quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE A opened at $145.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.28. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58. The stock has a market cap of $42.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. TheStreet raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Bank of America cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

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.