Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 8,340 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 6,000.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,479 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 8,340 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 68.3% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock traded up $2.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $140.58. 1,297,240 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,728,388. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.09. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.16 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $40.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $137.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.97.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.40%.

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.