Short Interest in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Rises By 10.3%

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, a growth of 10.3% from the March 15th total of 3,580,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 2.5 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Agilent Technologies has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on A shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of A. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $895,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 7.3% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,606 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 52.1% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,246,209,000 after purchasing an additional 261,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in Agilent Technologies by 10.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter.

About Agilent Technologies

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.