Jefferies Financial Group Comments on Agilent Technologies, Inc.’s FY2023 Earnings (NYSE:A)

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) – Equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group boosted their FY2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Agilent Technologies in a research note issued on Wednesday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group analyst B. Couillard now anticipates that the medical research company will post earnings of $5.67 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $5.65. The consensus estimate for Agilent Technologies’ current full-year earnings is $5.68 per share. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Agilent Technologies’ Q1 2024 earnings at $1.52 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.53 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.65 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $6.15 EPS.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 30.35% and a net margin of 19.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $152.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. SVB Leerink upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.31.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.6 %

A stock opened at $143.93 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.95 and a 200-day moving average of $142.61. The company has a market cap of $42.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $112.52 and a twelve month high of $160.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cascade Investment Group Inc. bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Natixis raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 200.2% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 114,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,141,000 after buying an additional 76,388 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,929 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. American Trust increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 7,707 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,160 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 450,757 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $67,456,000 after purchasing an additional 61,576 shares during the period. 85.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Padraig Mcdonnell sold 672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $107,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,484,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Boon Hwee Koh sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.21, for a total transaction of $1,978,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 57,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,790,431.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Padraig Mcdonnell sold 672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $107,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,484,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 43,172 shares of company stock valued at $6,681,760 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Agilent Technologies declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, January 9th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.32%.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.