Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Reduces Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC reduced its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,239 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 16,622 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $11,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter worth about $39,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.64.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:A traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.82. 1,427,375 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,694,101. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $41.32 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.97.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $283,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,497,110. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,953 shares of company stock valued at $2,013,630.

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.