GSA Capital Partners LLP Makes New Investment in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,363 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of A. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 953.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after buying an additional 29,590 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,770 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after buying an additional 4,523 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at $1,355,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,058,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE A opened at $125.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $137.83. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.39 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

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.