Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 54.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 20,055 shares during the quarter. Agilent Technologies accounts for about 0.7% of Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $2,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in A. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 32.3% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies in the third quarter worth $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 29.8% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 7,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $136.22 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 30.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.69. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

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.