Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 59,781 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $1,250,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in A. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC now owns 1,871 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 458 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 491 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,209 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE A opened at $116.55 on Monday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a one year low of $116.36 and a one year high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.20. The company has a market capitalization of $33.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.63.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. Equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies 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 $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.83.

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.