Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 153,630 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,749,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 153,630 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.94% of Agilent Technologies worth $382,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of A. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 246.7% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,437 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,087,000 after buying an additional 38,737 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 77.7% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $679,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 259.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 119,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,375,000 after acquiring an additional 86,355 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 20.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 64,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,174,000 after purchasing an additional 11,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 137.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 23,076 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 13,352 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on A. Citigroup upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:A traded up $1.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $139.59. 781,121 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,552,781. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $141.59 and its 200-day moving average is $130.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.80 and a 12-month high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

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.