Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $98.18 Million Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 706,179 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,541 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.24% of Agilent Technologies worth $98,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,246,209,000 after buying an additional 261,435 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,238,549,000 after buying an additional 39,030 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,310,000 after acquiring an additional 122,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

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 shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58. The company has a market cap of $40.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $141.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.45.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

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.