Bank of America Cuts Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target to $150.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price target lowered by Bank of America from $153.00 to $150.00 in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 target price on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE A opened at $139.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $136.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.37. Agilent Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The firm 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 company earned $1.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio 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 that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 114.8% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 68.3% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

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.