Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 252,767 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 27.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 681,254 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 252,767 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.23% of Agilent Technologies worth $88,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 18,815 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,439,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,586,000. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the second quarter worth $1,057,000. Finally, Prudential PLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 18.5% during the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 61,522 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,594 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective (down previously from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,497,110. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

A stock opened at $138.11 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $40.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a PEG ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.13.

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

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.