GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $117,000 in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 899 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $307,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $426,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 41.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last ninety days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $137.74 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.80. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

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

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.