Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Stock Position Cut by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after acquiring an additional 261,435 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,076,270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,238,549,000 after acquiring an additional 39,030 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,146,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,134 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $856,310,000 after acquiring an additional 122,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies 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 transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last 90 days.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:A opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $141.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.45. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58. The company has a market capitalization of $40.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Citigroup upped 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. Oppenheimer upped 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, March 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

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.