Geller Advisors LLC Invests $215,000 in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Geller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $536,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 4.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 85,436 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,686,000 after buying an additional 3,843 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 82.3% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,986 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after buying an additional 4,507 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 43,205 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,415,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 9.0% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 8,513 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,264,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $144.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $41.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.60. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.16 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on A shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.14.

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.