Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Raised to $150.00 at TD Cowen

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Free Report) had its target price boosted by TD Cowen to $150.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Stock Target Advisor reports. They currently have a buy rating on the medical research company's stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on A. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $159.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $140.15.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Agilent Technologies stock traded down $1.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $111.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,751,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,133. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.27. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $96.43 and a twelve month high of $153.84. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $108.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.47.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 17.59% and a return on equity of 26.13%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $211,840.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This represents a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $626,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,442 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,496 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,118 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 82,338 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $11,062,000 after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the period.

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.