Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Achmea Investment Management B.V.

Achmea Investment Management B.V. decreased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,125 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 62.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $191,193,000 after acquiring an additional 493,947 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $48,172,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth $49,449,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $434,625,000 after acquiring an additional 258,358 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on A shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.15.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A opened at $121.53 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $138.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.98. 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 company has a market cap of $34.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $117.17 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

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.