Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.29.

A number of research analysts have commented on A shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $140.22 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $41.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.27. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $151.58.

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

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 246.7% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,437 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,087,000 after acquiring an additional 38,737 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 77.7% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 65.6% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,446 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 259.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 119,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,375,000 after acquiring an additional 86,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 64,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11,075 shares during the last quarter.

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.