New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 29,618 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 457,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 29,618 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.16% of Agilent Technologies worth $63,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 worth $1,238,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,030 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 worth $1,146,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,134 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,097,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $458,162,000 after purchasing an additional 254,998 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,677,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,373,000 after purchasing an additional 124,671 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $370,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,377 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE A opened at $139.14 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $40.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.13, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.28.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on A shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised 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. UBS Group raised 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.