First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $937,000 Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 16.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,438 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 888 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of A. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 325,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,281,000 after acquiring an additional 149,159 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,609,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,758,000 after acquiring an additional 343,175 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 77.7% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Group LP lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 2,116,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $294,307,000 after purchasing an additional 467,451 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 508,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $70,653,000 after purchasing an additional 78,225 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on A shares. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.13.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.3 %

A stock opened at $126.13 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $138.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 26.25%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.