Procyon Advisors LLC Sells 209 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth about $393,291,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 939.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,296,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $256,796,000 after buying an additional 2,075,649 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $370,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,377 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $184,437,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $133.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of A stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $146.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 168,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,619,804. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $137.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market cap of $42.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last 90 days.

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.