Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 123.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,550 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,063 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of A. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer raised 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $139.45 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $142.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $151.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 EPS. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.38%.

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.