Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Shares Gap Up to $133.91

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $133.91, but opened at $137.98. Agilent Technologies shares last traded at $137.29, with a volume of 179,936 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on A. UBS Group boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 3.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $40.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $141.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.08.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 54,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 527.8% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 190 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.