Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.25 Per Share

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.248 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, January 22nd. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Agilent Technologies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.0% per year over the last three years. Agilent Technologies has a payout ratio of 16.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $5.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.4%.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Agilent Technologies stock opened at $131.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $37.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 1.07. Agilent Technologies has a 1 year low of $123.48 and a 1 year high of $155.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The medical research company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 25.26%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on A. Barclays upped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Agilent Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.36.

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.