Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $216,000 Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,785,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after buying an additional 261,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.5 %

A stock opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $141.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.45. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.38%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

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.