Jennison Associates LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 36.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 373,381 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 213,058 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.13% of Agilent Technologies worth $50,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KPP Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,506 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 8,036 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $687,000. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 139,281 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $18,711,000 after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on A. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock traded down $2.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $145.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,557,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,732,627. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a PE ratio of 32.85, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $141.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.28.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last announced 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 analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio 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.