Evercore ISI Boosts Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target to $145.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price objective raised by Evercore ISI from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an overweight rating and a $157.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded Agilent Technologies from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $135.00 price target (down previously from $152.00) on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $144.55 on Tuesday. Agilent Technologies has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $155.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.17 billion, a PE ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. Agilent Technologies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,953 shares of company stock valued at $2,013,630 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $4,348,471,000 after purchasing an additional 4,605,228 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 809,149 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,542,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,242,956,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,926 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.7% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,793,189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $362,081,000 after acquiring an additional 18,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,783,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $406,715,000 after purchasing an additional 116,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

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.