Rhumbline Advisers Sells 11,063 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 553,874 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 11,063 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.19% of Agilent Technologies worth $74,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 15,820 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,235,263 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $434,625,000 after purchasing an additional 258,358 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Agilent Technologies from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 0.3 %

A traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $136.74. 872,678 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,657,151. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $141.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.30. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.16 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.