Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Invests $570,000 in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,242 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CKW Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.9% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 187 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 263 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on A. Barclays decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $211,840.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This trade represents a 4.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of A stock opened at $112.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $110.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.32. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.43 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

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.