Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on July 24th

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.236 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, July 24th. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 2nd.

Agilent Technologies has increased its dividend by an average of 19.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Agilent Technologies has a payout ratio of 15.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Agilent Technologies to earn $6.09 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 15.4%.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 1.5 %

Agilent Technologies stock opened at $150.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $144.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.71. Agilent Technologies has a 1-year low of $96.80 and a 1-year high of $155.35. 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) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The medical research company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $67.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.29.

Insider Activity

In other Agilent Technologies news, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares in the company, valued at $38,086,350. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 4,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.00, for a total transaction of $719,372.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,178,021. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael R. Mcmullen sold 52,297 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,086,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,610 shares of company stock valued at $9,220,333.

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.