Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Shares Gap Down to $134.55

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $134.55, but opened at $131.26. Agilent Technologies shares last traded at $132.75, with a volume of 309,339 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Citigroup increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The company has a market cap of $38.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 22.38%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other 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 transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last quarter.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $29,000.

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.