Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 81.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 12,783 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. R. W. Roge & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $87,075,000 after acquiring an additional 227,431 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $2,331,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued 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 price target of $144.36.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $131.94 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $123.48 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $137.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.72. The company has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

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