Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Stock Holdings Lessened by Exchange Bank

Exchange Bank cut its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Exchange Bank’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 525,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the third 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,028,241,000 after buying an additional 30,610 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,603,000 after purchasing an additional 80,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $147.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.50. 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 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect 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. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.40%.

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.