Agilent Technologies Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:A)

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 1,777 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 20% compared to the average volume of 1,481 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $163.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.39.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE A traded up $9.62 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $123.60. The company had a trading volume of 1,699,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,823,583. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $36.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $109.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.66. Agilent Technologies has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $160.26.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 20th. The medical research company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 16.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.236 per share. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 29th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.61%.

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.78, for a total value of $415,730.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 24,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,876,732.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of A. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.9% in the third quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 27,070 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,027,000 after buying an additional 3,297 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 25.9% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 8,296 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.5% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 33,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 73,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,229,000 after purchasing an additional 14,454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.42% of the company’s stock.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc provides application focused solutions to the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets worldwide. 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; vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.