Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Cut to $155.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $165.00 to $155.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on A. UBS Group lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $141.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $153.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $137.19.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.8 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $130.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $143.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.15. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $96.80 and a 52-week high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $38.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.13.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 26.25%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 18.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,884,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,348,471,000 after buying an additional 4,605,228 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter worth about $509,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,841,659,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170,219 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 262.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,292,929 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $318,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,768 shares during the last quarter.

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.