Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 616,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,923 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $82,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,903,498,000 after buying an additional 158,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,028,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,610 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,213,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $700,414,000 after purchasing an additional 47,495 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $456,963,000. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 3,316,557 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $445,546,000 after purchasing an additional 17,627 shares during the period.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of A stock opened at $116.99 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $113.76 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $133.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.89, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. Research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the business’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.83.

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.