Wedmont Private Capital Grows Position in Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,592 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 160 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Keysight Technologies were worth $388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Keysight Technologies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,873,635 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,352,932,000 after buying an additional 55,223 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Keysight Technologies by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,114,952 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,588,546,000 after buying an additional 3,621,349 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in Keysight Technologies by 364.6% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,652,311 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $747,301,000 after buying an additional 3,650,953 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Keysight Technologies by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,417,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $708,349,000 after buying an additional 17,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in Keysight Technologies by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,958,274 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $637,125,000 after buying an additional 704,920 shares during the last quarter. 84.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Keysight Technologies news, CFO Neil Dougherty sold 3,632 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $562,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 115,063 shares in the company, valued at $17,834,765. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satish Dhanasekaran sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.78, for a total value of $103,819.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,235,581.28. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,247 shares of company stock valued at $2,086,720. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Keysight Technologies Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of KEYS opened at $163.64 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $149.37 and a 200 day moving average of $159.73. Keysight Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.72 and a fifty-two week high of $186.20. The firm has a market cap of $28.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Keysight Technologies had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Keysight Technologies, Inc. will post 6.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KEYS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Keysight Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Keysight Technologies from $172.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Keysight Technologies from $156.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on Keysight Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Keysight Technologies from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.00.

Keysight Technologies Company Profile

Keysight Technologies, Inc provides electronic design and test solutions to commercial communications, networking, aerospace, defense and government, automotive, energy, semiconductor, electronic, and education industries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Communications Solutions Group and Electronic Industrial Solutions Group.