Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Plans $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.248 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend by an average of 6.5% per year over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a payout ratio of 16.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $6.13 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 16.2%.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

A traded up $2.01 on Wednesday, reaching $137.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,737,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,679,436. Agilent Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $124.16 and a fifty-two week high of $155.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $141.21 and a 200-day moving average of $139.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $39.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,911 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $286,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,947,800. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Barclays upgraded Agilent Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.38.

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.