Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Shares Gap Down to $134.55

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $134.55, but opened at $131.26. Agilent Technologies shares last traded at $132.75, with a volume of 309,339 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on A. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $141.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 4.14 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.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business's revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $509,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,841,659,000 after buying an additional 2,170,219 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 939.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,296,512 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $256,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,649 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,666,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $370,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,377 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $620,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835,413 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.