Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 268 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,708 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of A. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 246.7% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,437 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,087,000 after purchasing an additional 38,737 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 77.7% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 259.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 119,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,375,000 after buying an additional 86,355 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 20.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 64,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 1,151,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $160,081,000 after acquiring an additional 193,647 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. 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 Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $150.54 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.71. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last 90 days.

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.