Brokerages Set Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) PT at $140.71

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $141.29.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 in the last ninety days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in A. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,785,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after acquiring an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A opened at $140.22 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $96.80 and a fifty-two week high of $151.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $141.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

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.