Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stake in Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS) by 36.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 80,088 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Keysight Technologies were worth $20,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Praxis Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Keysight Technologies by 45.8% in the first quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $954,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Keysight Technologies by 142.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,012 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,948 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Keysight Technologies by 3.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 52,174 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Keysight Technologies by 19.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,730 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Keysight Technologies by 18.9% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on KEYS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Keysight Technologies from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Keysight Technologies from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Keysight Technologies from $156.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Keysight Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.50.

Insider Activity at Keysight Technologies

In other Keysight Technologies news, CEO Satish Dhanasekaran sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.78, for a total transaction of $103,819.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,235,581.28. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard P. Hamada sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.00, for a total transaction of $257,418.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 42,160 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,920. The trade was a 3.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,830 shares of company stock valued at $5,124,049 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Keysight Technologies Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of KEYS opened at $163.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $163.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.56. Keysight Technologies Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.43 and a twelve month high of $186.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.35, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. Keysight Technologies had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 19.65%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Keysight Technologies Inc. will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Keysight Technologies Company Profile

Keysight Technologies, Inc provides electronic design and test solutions to commercial communications, networking, aerospace, defense and government, automotive, energy, semiconductor, electronic, and education industries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Communications Solutions Group and Electronic Industrial Solutions Group.