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

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $146.15.

A has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of 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.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE A opened at $121.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies has a one year low of $117.17 and a one year high of $155.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $136.34 and its 200-day moving average is $137.16.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. Equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares in the company, valued at $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of A. CKW Financial Group raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 187 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 188 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 640.0% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 222 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies Company 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.