Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock Bumped Up to “Buy” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.65.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $172.77 on Friday. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $108.35 and a twelve month high of $177.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.71 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.54.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The medical research company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 24.45% and a net margin of 19.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. Agilent Technologies has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.710-1.740 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.180-6.210 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 6.20 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $0.2550 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.08%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In related news, Director Mikael Dolsten sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.38, for a total transaction of $95,974.92. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,924 shares in the company, valued at $745,395.12. The trade was a 11.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of A. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at $58,539,000. Dudley & Shanley Inc. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 25.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 69,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,232,000 after buying an additional 14,300 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at $834,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,818,000. Finally, Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 1st quarter worth about $8,161,000.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

Agilent Technologies, Inc is an analytical measurement and laboratory technology company serving the life sciences, diagnostics, pharmaceutical, chemical, environmental, food, energy and academic research markets. Its solutions help laboratories analyze the composition, quality and performance of materials, biological samples and other substances.

The company’s products and services include liquid and gas chromatography systems, mass spectrometry instruments, spectroscopy equipment, laboratory automation tools, software, consumables and supplies.