Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Raises Dividend to $0.25 Per Share

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 20th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.248 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, January 22nd. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.0% annually over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a payout ratio of 17.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $6.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.99 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.1%.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A stock opened at $135.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $135.33 and a 200 day moving average of $136.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $38.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.67, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $124.16 and a 1 year high of $155.35.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The medical research company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.05. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on A. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Agilent Technologies from $157.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.62.

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.