Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Buys New Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in A. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A traded down $1.12 on Thursday, reaching $136.37. 940,756 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,572,401. 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 stock has a market cap of $39.96 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $141.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.33. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $151.58.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on A shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last 90 days.

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.