Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 901 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $14,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in A. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 32.3% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth about $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 29.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 7,111 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.5% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,456 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,828,000 after buying an additional 3,612 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $152.41 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.79. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

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.