Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock Price

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price target upped by Citigroup to $165.00 in a report published on Thursday,Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $134.51 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $135.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.48. 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 has a 12 month low of $124.16 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $38.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during 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.