Wells Fargo & Company Initiates Coverage on Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A)

Stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.29% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on A. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. 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 note on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.60.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $141.07. The company had a trading volume of 949,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,748,706. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.15. The company has a market cap of $41.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $96.80 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $134.34 and its 200 day moving average is $138.65.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.84% and a return on equity of 26.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total transaction of $1,999,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,595,494.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,874 shares of company stock valued at $2,811,770 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of A. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,884,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,348,471,000 after purchasing an additional 4,605,228 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $509,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,170,219 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 262.1% in the 4th 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. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,242,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,926 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.