1,880 Shares in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Bought by Violich Capital Management Inc.

Violich Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth $2,726,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 12.1% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,903 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,491 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.4% during the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 2,455 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 5.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 44,910 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on A. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays raised Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.38.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE A opened at $143.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $141.59 and its 200 day moving average is $139.37.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

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.