SkyView Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,615 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after buying an additional 525,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 4.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,948,536 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $437,799,000 after purchasing an additional 136,184 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A opened at $140.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.16 and a 52-week high of $155.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $136.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.57.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

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.