Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A – Get Rating) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The medical research company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.19% and a return on equity of 30.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Agilent Technologies updated its Q3 guidance to $1.36-1.38 EPS and its FY23 guidance to $5.60-5.65 EPS.

Agilent Technologies Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:A traded down $2.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $118.39. The stock had a trading volume of 438,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,503,106. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $133.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $35.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.03. Agilent Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $112.52 and a fifty-two week high of $160.26.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be given a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 30th. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agilent Technologies

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 94.6% in the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 395 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the first quarter valued at $61,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $168.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Agilent Technologies from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $174.00 to $144.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.35.

Agilent Technologies Company Profile

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Agilent Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level.