Empower Advisory Group LLC Sells 194 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Empower Advisory Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 194 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,903,498,000 after buying an additional 158,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,028,241,000 after buying an additional 30,610 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $434,625,000 after buying an additional 258,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,603,000 after buying an additional 80,819 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on A. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays raised Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.38.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A opened at $136.74 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $141.04 and a 200 day moving average of $139.28.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.40%.

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.