Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund cut its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 90.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 38,936 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Arjuna Capital purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at $1,481,000. Mirova raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 91.3% during the 1st quarter. Mirova now owns 6,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after buying an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 99,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,541,000 after buying an additional 7,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 18,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,675,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at $3,274,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.6 %

A opened at $134.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.51. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a market capitalization of $39.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 26.25%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.