Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.25-1.28 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.38. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.65-1.68 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.70 billion. Agilent Technologies also updated its FY25 guidance to $5.54-5.61 EPS.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Agilent Technologies stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $134.49. 3,273,158 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,720,104. The company has a market capitalization of $38.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.61. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on A. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.36.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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.