Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $317,000 Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,357 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.9% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,236 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 65.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 40,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,264,000 after buying an additional 16,009 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 22,797 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 54,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,125,000 after buying an additional 3,431 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 73.6% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 4,779 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $152.61 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $124.16 and a one year high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $43.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $136.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.50.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

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