Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys 2,330 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 9.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,330 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $3,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies in the first quarter worth $938,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 953.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,757,000 after buying an additional 29,590 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 325,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,281,000 after buying an additional 149,159 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,609,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $223,758,000 after buying an additional 343,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 26.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of A stock opened at $139.01 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $40.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.50 and a 200 day moving average of $139.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wolfe Research downgraded Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $283,910.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,497,110. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Agilent Technologies 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.