Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on A. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $145.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $151.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $132.31. The company has a market cap of $42.52 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.13.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS 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 net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. Research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.38%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total value of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last 90 days.

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.