American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 48.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,077,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,024,866 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.37% of Agilent Technologies worth $139,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 527.8% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the first quarter worth about $34,000. 87.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on A shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of 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 boosted 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.60.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $136.43 on Friday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $136.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.14.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.