Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock Rating Upgraded by Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $145.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $135.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on A. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.38.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:A opened at $138.07 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $141.72 and a 200-day moving average of $139.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $124.16 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,314,784,000 after purchasing an additional 525,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,819,897 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,903,498,000 after purchasing an additional 158,175 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,250,276,000 after purchasing an additional 59,781 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,002,671 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $938,291,000 after purchasing an additional 53,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,213,739 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $700,414,000 after acquiring an additional 47,495 shares during the last quarter.

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.