Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.71.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on A shares. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A traded up $2.94 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $147.40. 873,678 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,608,772. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business's fifty day moving average price is $140.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.39.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $895,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period.

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.