Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 69.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,360 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 40,896 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 953.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,694 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,757,000 after buying an additional 29,590 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,058,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the period. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at $14,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company's stock.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:A traded up $2.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $140.57. 1,297,596 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,728,390. 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 quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $40.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.97.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.248 dividend. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on A. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com cut Agilent Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.40.

Agilent Technologies 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.