Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 24,125 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 46.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 75,572 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 24,125 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $10,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth $258,000. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $559,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,559 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $36,706,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,975 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $970,000 after acquiring an additional 874 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on A. Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A traded up $5.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $139.18. 801,561 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,565,206. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $141.21 and a 200-day moving average of $130.08. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

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.