Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) Stock Price

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its price target on Keysight from $282 to $320 and maintains a "buy" rating, while the analyst consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $298.82.
• Shares jumped about 5.8% to $293.76 after Keysight reported a quarterly beat (EPS $2.17 vs. $2.00; revenue $1.60B vs. $1.54B) with revenue up 23.3% year-over-year and FY2026 guidance of ~8.59 EPS.
• The board approved a $1.5 billion share buyback (up to 4.9% of shares), while insiders have modestly reduced holdings and institutional investors own roughly 84.6% of the stock.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by research analysts at Citigroup from $282.00 to $320.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. Citigroup's price target suggests a potential upside of 8.93% from the company's previous close.

KEYS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Keysight Technologies from $232.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Keysight Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research upgraded Keysight Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Keysight Technologies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Keysight Technologies from $230.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $298.82.

Keysight Technologies Stock Up 5.8%

Shares of Keysight Technologies stock traded up $16.23 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $293.76. 194,031 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,477,651. Keysight Technologies has a twelve month low of $121.43 and a twelve month high of $317.00. The company has a market cap of $50.38 billion, a PE ratio of 52.75, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.73.

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Keysight Technologies had a return on equity of 19.26% and a net margin of 16.84%.Keysight Technologies's quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Keysight Technologies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.590- EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.270-2.330 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Keysight Technologies will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Keysight Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, November 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the scientific and technical instruments company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Keysight Technologies news, SVP Jo Ann Juskie sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.42, for a total transaction of $304,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 12,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,821,079.84. This represents a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ingrid A. Estrada sold 2,000 shares of Keysight Technologies stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.68, for a total value of $475,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 107,861 shares in the company, valued at $25,636,402.48. The trade was a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 35,556 shares of company stock valued at $10,025,731 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Keysight Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KEYS. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Keysight Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Keysight Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Keysight Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Entrust Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Keysight Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Keysight Technologies by 68.5% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 278 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.58% of the company's stock.

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight Technologies is a global provider of electronic design, test, measurement and optimization solutions for communications, electronics and related industries. The company was formed as a corporate spin-off from Agilent Technologies in 2014; its origins trace back to the electronic measurement business that was part of Hewlett‑Packard before Agilent. Keysight develops hardware and software used throughout the product development lifecycle, from design and simulation to prototype validation and manufacturing test.

Keysight's product portfolio includes electronic test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, network and spectrum analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers and modular PXI-based systems, together with software platforms for simulation, automated test and data analysis.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.