Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Cypress Capital Group

Cypress Capital Group trimmed its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,553 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $676,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,952,832,000 after buying an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.2% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,088,000 after purchasing an additional 203,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 52,550 shares in the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A opened at $131.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.97 and a 200-day moving average of $137.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.48 and a 52 week high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 19.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on A shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on 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 owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

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.