Riverwater Partners LLC Sells 1,865 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Riverwater Partners LLC reduced its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 43.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,443 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,865 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’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 owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This trade represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,638 shares of company stock valued at $731,229 over the last 90 days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 6.1 %

NYSE:A opened at $102.97 on Friday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.85 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.75.

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. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. Equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

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.