Waterloo Capital L.P. Purchases New Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,127 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,841,659,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170,219 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,146,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,134 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,097,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $458,162,000 after acquiring an additional 254,998 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $509,904,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,749,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $382,313,000 after acquiring an additional 153,630 shares during the period. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target (down previously from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. TD Cowen cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of A traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $132.98. 2,365,340 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,965,130. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.80.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 26.25% and a net margin of 18.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.