Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.07.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $134.35 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $137.74 and a 200-day moving average of $137.43. Agilent Technologies has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $155.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $38.60 billion, a PE ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.07.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.248 dividend. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 19.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total value of $1,448,550.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of A. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 4.0% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 7,226 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 47.9% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 475,029 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $69,121,000 after acquiring an additional 5,543 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 58.2% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 17,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,540,000 after acquiring an additional 6,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 26.2% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,770 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,168,000 after acquiring an additional 4,523 shares in 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.