Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Bought by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,973 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,314,784,000 after buying an additional 525,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,903,498,000 after acquiring an additional 158,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948,679 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,028,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,610 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,198,715 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $431,603,000 after purchasing an additional 80,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $442,011,000 after purchasing an additional 183,716 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on A shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. Bank of America lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A traded up $2.85 on Friday, hitting $147.57. 3,210,301 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,210,953. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $136.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.27. The firm has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.06. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.