Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of 0.248 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend by an average of 6.5% per year over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 16.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $6.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.99 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.3%.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE A opened at $116.55 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $134.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $116.36 and a 52 week high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upgraded Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,947,800. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Agilent Technologies stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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.