Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Expected to Earn Q2 2023 Earnings of $1.26 Per Share

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) – Research analysts at KeyCorp lowered their Q2 2023 earnings estimates for shares of Agilent Technologies in a report released on Tuesday, February 28th. KeyCorp analyst P. Knight now forecasts that the medical research company will post earnings per share of $1.26 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.37. KeyCorp currently has a “Overweight” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Agilent Technologies’ current full-year earnings is $5.64 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Agilent Technologies’ Q3 2023 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $1.60 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $5.67 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $6.80 EPS.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.09% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis.

A has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $152.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 20th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $170.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. SVB Leerink upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.31.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 3.0 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $141.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $151.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.04. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $112.52 and a 52-week high of $160.26.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 3rd. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 20.32%.

Agilent Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, January 9th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 4.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Padraig Mcdonnell sold 672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $107,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Padraig Mcdonnell sold 672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $107,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,484,640. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Boon Hwee Koh sold 13,000 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.21, for a total transaction of $1,978,730.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 57,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,790,431.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,172 shares of company stock worth $6,681,760 in the last ninety days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 32,943,190 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,004,242,000 after acquiring an additional 629,153 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,955,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,033,368,000 after purchasing an additional 257,455 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.4% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,652,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,977,848,000 after purchasing an additional 223,279 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,152,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,598,661,000 after buying an additional 73,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 10.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,478,670 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $787,483,000 after buying an additional 627,517 shares in the last quarter.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.