Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.25 Per Share

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.248 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, January 22nd. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend by an average of 19.0% annually over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 16.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $5.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE A opened at $131.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.91 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $137.97 and a 200-day moving average of $137.72. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $123.48 and a 52-week high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.26% and a net margin of 21.75%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.36.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

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.