Fulton Bank N.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,907 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the first quarter valued at $938,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 84.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 325,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $45,281,000 after acquiring an additional 149,159 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,609,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,758,000 after acquiring an additional 343,175 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 77.7% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 26.2% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,770 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 4,523 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total transaction of $1,999,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares in the company, valued at $3,650,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,916 shares of company stock worth $2,527,860. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $136.24. 1,461,966 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,784,863. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.02. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 26.25% and a net margin of 18.84%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on A shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $126.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target (down from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.06.

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.