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

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) gapped down prior to trading 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on A shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company has a market capitalization of $38.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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 quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total transaction of $239,315.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333 over the last three months.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 2.5% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter.

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.