Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 5,422 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,422 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $3,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of A. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 82,338 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,567 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,442 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,571 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 2.9 %

A opened at $151.34 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.56. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.16 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on A. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by 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.