Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Decreases Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. cut its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 375 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the firm’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 value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on A shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.4 %

A opened at $140.22 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $141.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $129.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $41.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.38%.

About Agilent Technologies

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.