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 trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on A shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, 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, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last ninety days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.5% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in 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 buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter.

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.