Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 1,883 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 98.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,786 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,883 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $526,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of A. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 7.3% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last ninety days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $140.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $141.02 and a 200-day moving average of $128.94. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company has a market capitalization of $41.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.