Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A – Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, an increase of 10.3% from the March 15th total of 3,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.
Agilent Technologies Price Performance
Shares of A stock opened at $136.71 on Wednesday. Agilent Technologies has a twelve month low of $96.80 and a twelve month high of $151.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $7,844,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Philip Binns sold 2,827 shares of Agilent Technologies 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,474,957.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,610 shares of company stock worth $9,220,333 in the last quarter.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in A. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts recently commented on A shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $163.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.29.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on A
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.
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