Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Reduces Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich decreased its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 37.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,982 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $3,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 107.3% during the fourth quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1,111.1% during the third quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 327 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on A. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last ninety days.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $137.69 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $141.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Agilent Technologies 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.