Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC reduced its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 7.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,928 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the first quarter worth approximately $2,108,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. 85.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on A. UBS Group downgraded Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $163.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 16th. TheStreet cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $144.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.94.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of A opened at $113.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $160.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.66.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 20th. The medical research company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 29.86%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 29th. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 24.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.78, for a total transaction of $415,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 24,219 shares in the company, valued at $2,876,732.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.31% 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 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; vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.