Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target Raised to $165.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price objective raised by analysts at Citigroup to $165.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.48% from the company’s previous close.

A has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased 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 note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:A traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $132.55. 107,970 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,717,718. The company has a fifty day moving average of $136.23 and a 200 day moving average of $136.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.09. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $124.16 and a twelve month high of $155.35. The company has a market capitalization of $38.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Insider Transactions at Agilent Technologies

In other news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.00, for a total transaction of $1,448,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,801,595. This trade represents a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the second quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its position in Agilent Technologies by 3.1% in the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 13.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 646 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 1.6% in the third quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 5,049 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.