Agilent Technologies, Inc. Forecasted to Post FY2024 Earnings of $6.17 Per Share (NYSE:A)

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Rating) – Research analysts at KeyCorp lifted their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, February 28th. KeyCorp analyst P. Knight now anticipates that the medical research company will post earnings per share of $6.17 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $6.10. KeyCorp has a “Overweight” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Agilent Technologies’ current full-year earnings is $5.68 per share.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 30.35% and a net margin of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis.

A has been the subject of several other reports. Cowen lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $168.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $152.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Cowen boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $168.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. SVB Leerink boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.31.

Agilent Technologies Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $143.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $112.52 and a 52-week high of $160.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.68.

Agilent Technologies declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 4.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 3rd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in A. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.9% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 32,943,190 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,004,242,000 after buying an additional 629,153 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.0% in 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 buying an additional 257,455 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.4% in 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 buying 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 during the period. 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 during the period.

About Agilent Technologies

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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.