Barclays Raises Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target to $135.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price target increased by Barclays from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on A. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $133.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $140.73 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $151.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.02 and a 200 day moving average of $128.94. The firm has a market cap of $41.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 613.5% during the 1st quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 10,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 9,037 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 23,497 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,419,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. Rheos Capital Works Inc. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 75,200 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.5% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period.

About Agilent Technologies

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.