Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Cut to $155.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price objective decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $157.00 to $155.00 in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on A. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut 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 given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.14.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE A opened at $144.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies has a 12-month low of $124.16 and a 12-month high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $137.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.60.

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

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.248 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.40%.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,979 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 10.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 8.1% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,870 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

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.