Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) Shares Sold by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. cut its holdings in Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,974 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 119 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Keysight Technologies were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Keysight Technologies by 0.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 20,159 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,667,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Keysight Technologies by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,959 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Keysight Technologies by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,511,436 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $199,978,000 after purchasing an additional 100,745 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Keysight Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $499,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Keysight Technologies by 1,002.3% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 40,026 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 36,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on KEYS shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Keysight Technologies from $134.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Keysight Technologies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $184.00 to $170.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Keysight Technologies from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.63.

Keysight Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KEYS opened at $149.18 on Friday. Keysight Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.57 and a 1 year high of $172.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $152.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.36. The company has a market capitalization of $26.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.06.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.04. Keysight Technologies had a net margin of 18.14% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Keysight Technologies, Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Keysight Technologies

In other news, SVP Kailash Narayanan sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.88, for a total transaction of $657,384.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,457,369.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Keysight Technologies Profile

Keysight Technologies, Inc provides electronic design and test solutions to commercial communications, networking, aerospace, defense and government, automotive, energy, semiconductor, electronic, and education industries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Communications Solutions Group and Electronic Industrial Solutions Group.