Avestar Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,363 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 47.9% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 1,711 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 58.2% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,540,000 after buying an additional 6,420 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $22,588,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 11,841 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 27,431 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,991,000 after purchasing an additional 2,699 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.40.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $138.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.69 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $137.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 20.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.