Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd cut its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 36.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,299 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Kepos Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock remained flat at $150.55 during trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 24,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,499,203. 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 capitalization of $44.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.71. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction 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 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 directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

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.