Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Shares Sold by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) by 60.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,431 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 12,841 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in A. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the second quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.1% in the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.5% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 646 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the third quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,049 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered Agilent Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $143.14.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE A traded down $2.07 on Tuesday, reaching $141.93. 1,261,207 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,725,593. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.60. The company has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. Agilent Technologies's revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies's payout ratio is 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.