Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Short Interest Update

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) saw a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,910,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the December 15th total of 3,150,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com raised Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.62.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A traded up $2.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.57. The stock had a trading volume of 3,210,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,953. Agilent Technologies has a 52 week low of $124.16 and a 52 week high of $155.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $136.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.19. The firm has a market cap of $42.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.06.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.43% and a net margin of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies will post 5.56 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.248 per share. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Agilent Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 22.40%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 3.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,589,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,314,784,000 after acquiring an additional 525,214 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,287,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $191,193,000 after purchasing an additional 493,947 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,449,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 48.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 957,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $124,073,000 after purchasing an additional 313,155 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 63.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 586,439 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $87,075,000 after buying an additional 227,431 shares during the period.

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.