Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $143.62.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $133.19 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $136.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.41. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The stock has a market cap of $38.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of A. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after buying an additional 183,716 shares during the period. AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 32.3% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,049,000 after acquiring an additional 88,667 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 29.8% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 7,111 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,952,832,000 after purchasing an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

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.