Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC Invests $34,000 in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 254 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sienna Gestion increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 78,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,537,000 after purchasing an additional 17,991 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,554,000 after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 73,273 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,843,000 after buying an additional 10,128 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 43,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,892,000 after acquiring an additional 3,915 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 49,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,802 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.42.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A opened at $111.17 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.43 and a 1 year high of $153.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $31.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.79 and a 200-day moving average of $126.76.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the company’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 owns 35,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.