National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 68,298 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 84.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,128 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 68,298 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.05% of Agilent Technologies worth $22,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in A. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.1% in the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 646 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,049 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:A traded down $2.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $141.93. 1,261,207 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,725,593. The firm has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $137.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.14.

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.