Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Plans $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of 0.236 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.0% annually over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a payout ratio of 16.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $5.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE A traded up $2.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $141.95. 1,196,147 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,712,960. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.25. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on A. UBS Group increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,650,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.