Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of A. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 18.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,884,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,348,471,000 after buying an additional 4,605,228 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after acquiring an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.2% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,667,616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,088,000 after purchasing an additional 203,234 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on A shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 3.0 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $130.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $139.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.14. The company has a market capitalization of $37.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $111.33 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $283,910.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,497,110. This represents a 7.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,995 shares of company stock worth $1,739,510. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.