Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 132 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 152,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $21,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 107.3% in the fourth quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 284 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

A traded up $1.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,097,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,688. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $142.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.79. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last three months.

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.