Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.20-1.23 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.34. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.555-1.605 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies also updated its FY 2024 guidance to $5.44-$5.55 EPS.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock opened at $113.98 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $109.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.66. The company has a market cap of $33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.04. Agilent Technologies has a 12 month low of $96.80 and a 12 month high of $160.26.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 20th. The medical research company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 16.20% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The company’s revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Agilent Technologies will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 2nd will be paid a $0.236 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 29th. This is an increase from Agilent Technologies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $144.00 to $140.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $163.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday. TheStreet downgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $124.00 to $120.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $143.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.78, for a total value of $415,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 24,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,876,732.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of A. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,531,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,246,209,000 after acquiring an additional 261,435 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 2.0% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,203,779 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,310,000 after acquiring an additional 122,329 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,145,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $620,414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835,413 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Agilent Technologies by 16.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,769,368 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $383,114,000 after acquiring an additional 386,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $393,291,000. 85.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc provides application focused solutions to the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets worldwide. 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; vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.