Junto Capital Management LP Makes New $24.82 Million Investment in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 184,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,823,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in A. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 458 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 491 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $211,840.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE A opened at $106.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $30.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.43 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.77.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were paid a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

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.