LGT Capital Partners LTD. Decreases Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. decreased its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 713,950 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 76,620 shares during the quarter. Agilent Technologies accounts for about 3.6% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $95,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,088,000 after buying an additional 203,234 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth $229,000. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 2,592 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $216,000.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

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

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of A opened at $126.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.69. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.45 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays raised shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.15.

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.