Stifel Nicolaus Upgrades Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) to “Buy”

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) was upgraded by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm presently has a $163.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $145.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 15.31% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday. TheStreet raised Agilent Technologies from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.71.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE A opened at $141.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.68. The firm has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.46. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $96.80 and a 52 week high of $151.58.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Agilent Technologies news, Director Heidi Fields sold 1,658 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.34, for a total value of $239,315.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,935,235.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last 90 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of A. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 246.7% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,437 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,087,000 after buying an additional 38,737 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,446 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 259.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 119,582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,375,000 after buying an additional 86,355 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 64,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,174,000 after buying an additional 11,075 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 9,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period.

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.