Troy Asset Management Ltd Has $144.65 Million Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Troy Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 974,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,852 shares during the period. Agilent Technologies accounts for 4.7% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $144,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at $342,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 46.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 33,661 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,898,000 after buying an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the first quarter worth approximately $938,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 15.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 21,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,104,000 after buying an additional 2,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.4% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 10,790 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $283,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,497,110. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,995 shares of company stock worth $1,739,510 over the last three months.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Agilent Technologies in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of A stock opened at $136.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $39.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 6.06 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $139.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.21.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 19.50%.

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.