Troy Asset Management Ltd Has $130.73 Million Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Troy Asset Management Ltd lowered its position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 973,103 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,081 shares during the period. Agilent Technologies accounts for 4.4% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Troy Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.34% of Agilent Technologies worth $130,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CKW Financial Group raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 187 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 161.1% in the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $37,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at $2,657,456.28. This trade represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of A opened at $116.55 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 firm has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $134.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.65. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $116.36 and a 12-month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.56% and a net margin of 19.27%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 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.