Robert W. Baird Lowers Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target to $159.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its target price cut by Robert W. Baird from $161.00 to $159.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on A. Barclays raised shares of Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $145.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.15.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

A opened at $127.07 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $140.78 and its 200-day moving average is $139.20. The stock has a market cap of $36.25 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $124.16 and a twelve month high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.58% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. On average, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,947,800. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of A. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $563,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 76.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 387,549 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $52,063,000 after buying an additional 167,581 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,442 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 153,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $20,674,000 after buying an additional 8,420 shares during the period.

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.