Louisbourg Investments Inc. Has $4.25 Million Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Louisbourg Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,620 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Louisbourg Investments Inc.'s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $4,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 646 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV grew its holdings in 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 valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,243 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,224,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $144.38.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock traded down $1.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $134.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,358,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,732,627. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.41. 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. The company has a market cap of $38.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. This is an increase 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.