Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.25-1.28 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.38. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.65-1.68 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.70 billion. Agilent Technologies also updated its FY25 guidance to $5.54-5.61 EPS.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of A traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $134.49. The stock had a trading volume of 3,273,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,720,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $137.90 and its 200 day moving average is $137.61. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $155.35. The firm has a market cap of $38.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 19.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on A. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

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.