Insider Selling: Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) SVP Sells $1,448,550.00 in Stock

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $148.06 on Monday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 2,872 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $479,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,033 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on A shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.93.

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.