Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Citigroup to $165.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 24.48% from the company’s previous close.

A has been the topic of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America reduced their price target on Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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 given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Agilent Technologies stock 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $136.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.44. The company has a market cap of $38.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Agilent Technologies has a one year low of $124.16 and a one year high of $155.35.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Agilent Technologies

In related news, SVP Dominique Grau sold 9,990 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 40,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,801,595. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,064,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,832,000 after acquiring an additional 809,149 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 62.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $191,193,000 after buying an additional 493,947 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,449,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 48.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $124,073,000 after buying an additional 313,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $87,075,000 after acquiring an additional 227,431 shares during the period. 87.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.