Toronto Dominion Bank Buys 8,420 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 8,420 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $20,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of A. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,442 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 82,338 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

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

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $111.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.20. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.43 and a 52 week high of $153.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $108.98 and its 200 day moving average is $126.87. The firm has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.27.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on A shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.42.

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.