Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Raised to $165.00 at Citigroup

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price objective upped by Citigroup to $165.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:A opened at $133.19 on Thursday. Agilent Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.41. The company has a market cap of $38.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.248 dividend. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,910 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,211 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter worth approximately $295,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.3% during the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 29,199 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.