Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased 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 report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE A opened at $136.10 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $124.16 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $135.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $39.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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 issued a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of A. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.7% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 62.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,193,000 after purchasing an additional 493,947 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at $49,449,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 48.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $124,073,000 after purchasing an additional 313,155 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $87,075,000 after purchasing an additional 227,431 shares in the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.