Courier Capital LLC Buys Shares of 1,734 Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Courier Capital LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,734 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of A. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 79.6% during the second quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 273 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on A shares. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $147.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.13. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. Analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.