Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 58,902 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 77.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,141 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 58,902 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $18,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of A. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter worth $31,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake 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. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the second quarter valued at $60,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on A. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of A stock traded up $2.85 on Friday, hitting $147.57. The stock had a trading volume of 3,210,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,809. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $136.26 and a 200 day moving average of $137.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.16 and a 12-month high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.06.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is 22.40%.

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.