Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) saw a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,910,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the December 15th total of 3,150,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on A shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 2.0 %

A stock traded up $2.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $147.57. The company had a trading volume of 3,210,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,953. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $124.16 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $136.48 and a 200 day moving average of $137.27. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.40%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,206 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,222,000 after buying an additional 22,995 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 105,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,173,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 41,503 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,576,000 after buying an additional 2,503 shares during the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 530 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.