Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 65.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,605 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,009 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $5,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of A. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 527.8% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 87.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.60.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $139.79 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $138.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.09. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.