Philip Binns Sells 2,827 Shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Stock

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total transaction of $417,095.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:A traded up $3.00 on Wednesday, hitting $147.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,212,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,645,060. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $151.58. The stock has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.13. 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 (NYSE:A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 27.09%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 1st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $132.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. TheStreet upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.29.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 172,458 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $23,977,000 after purchasing an additional 4,627 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 380.8% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 43,275 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,017,000 after purchasing an additional 34,275 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 4,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $135,000.

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.