Jennison Associates LLC Acquires 227,431 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 227,431 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $87,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in 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. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,386,039 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,302,000 after buying an additional 52,550 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $128.57 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.06 and a 200 day moving average of $137.76. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.23 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.50%.

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.