State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 1,076 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,028 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,076 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $14,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,903,498,000 after purchasing an additional 158,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,028,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,610 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $434,625,000 after purchasing an additional 258,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,603,000 after purchasing an additional 80,819 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on A. Citigroup boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.38.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A opened at $134.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.40. The firm has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

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.