Park Place Capital Corp Cuts Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Park Place Capital Corp lowered its stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 46.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 395 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 348 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of A. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 11.5% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,954 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,480,000 after acquiring an additional 5,978 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 408.0% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,656 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $707,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 24.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 309,115 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,565,000 after acquiring an additional 60,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 7.3% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on A shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $136.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 1.7 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $127.46 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $155.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $139.56 and its 200 day moving average is $138.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.05.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.22%.

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.