Mather Group LLC. Boosts Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 38.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,935 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in A. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Monumental Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Kepos Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 15,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of A stock opened at $137.04 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58. The firm has a market cap of $40.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.21. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on A shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.