Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) SVP Philip Binns Sells 2,827 Shares

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE A opened at $147.41 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $137.60 and a 200-day moving average of $126.13. The company has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. Agilent Technologies’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $132.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $130.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 31,853,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,830,344,000 after buying an additional 349,651 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,279,117 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,514,556,000 after purchasing an additional 206,865 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,246,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,841,659,000 after purchasing an additional 2,170,219 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,214,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,591,990,000 after purchasing an additional 253,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,255,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,146,773,000 after buying an additional 1,519,134 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.