Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Cut to $145.00 by Analysts at SVB Securities

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) had its target price reduced by SVB Securities from $170.00 to $145.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. SVB Securities currently has an outperform rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on A. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $174.00 to $144.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $126.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $151.35.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $120.99 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $112.52 and a twelve month high of $160.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.31, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $133.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 23rd. The medical research company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.01. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 30.35% and a net margin of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.32%.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 629,153 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,955,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,033,368,000 after acquiring an additional 257,455 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,152,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,598,661,000 after acquiring an additional 73,495 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,218,926 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,137,008,000 after purchasing an additional 511,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 10.7% in the 3rd 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 purchasing 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.