Brokerages Set Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Target Price at $143.62

Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $143.62.

A number of brokerages recently commented on A. Bank of America decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $134.51 on Friday. Agilent Technologies has a 1-year low of $124.16 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $38.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.48.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.80% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,976,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,011,000 after acquiring an additional 183,716 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 32.3% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 362,945 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the third quarter valued at approximately $14,848,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,978 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,592,000 after buying an additional 7,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after buying an additional 809,149 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.