New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 371,220 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,504 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $49,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. McAdam LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 646 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,049 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.5 %

A opened at $137.21 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $141.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.30. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $39.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays upgraded Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.38.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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.