Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A)

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 3,284 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 158% compared to the typical volume of 1,271 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total value of $1,999,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $254,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 527.8% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the first quarter worth about $34,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on A shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $147.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.88.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:A opened at $134.72 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $39.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 26.25% and a net margin of 18.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.25 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

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.