Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) to Issue $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.236 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st.

Agilent Technologies has increased its dividend by an average of 19.0% annually over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 16.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $5.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $148.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Agilent Technologies has a one year low of $96.80 and a one year high of $155.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.05.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on A shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen raised 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $157.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $274,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,076 shares in the company, valued at $3,650,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $274,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,650,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,906 shares of company stock worth $2,006,580. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.