Oppenheimer Raises Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Price Target to $90.00

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Oppenheimer from $67.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price suggests a potential downside of 38.95% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on A. Citigroup increased their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Bank of America lowered Agilent Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $130.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Agilent Technologies in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.29.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE A opened at $147.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 1.11. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $151.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $137.60 and a 200 day moving average of $126.13.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $7,844,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.54, for a total value of $417,095.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of A. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,709 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Monumental Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Kepos Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kepos Capital LP now owns 2,775 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. 87.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.