BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Sells 203 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,950 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $509,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,841,659,000 after buying an additional 2,170,219 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,552,000 after buying an additional 1,867,377 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 262.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,292,929 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $318,786,000 after buying an additional 1,659,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,146,773,000 after buying an additional 1,519,134 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $126.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies 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 value of $254,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total transaction of $1,999,200.00. Following the sale, 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at $3,274,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $127.11 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $37.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $137.77 and its 200-day moving average is $137.83.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 26.25% and a net margin of 18.84%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

Agilent Technologies 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.