Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 461,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,933 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $62,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $806,000. Summitry LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 478,023 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $64,218,000 after buying an additional 14,854 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 2,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,675,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on A. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.83.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $116.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $116.36 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $134.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. On average, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. 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.