Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) Stock Price

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 31.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on A. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Agilent Technologies to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on Agilent Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $161.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $144.58.

Agilent Technologies Stock Down 0.4 %

A traded down $0.40 on Thursday, reaching $102.31. 660,323 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,853,877. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $121.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.12. Agilent Technologies has a 52-week low of $96.43 and a 52-week high of $155.35. The company has a market cap of $29.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Agilent Technologies will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Agilent Technologies news, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total value of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,456.28. This trade represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $211,840.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 35,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,931.02. This represents a 4.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,638 shares of company stock valued at $731,229 in the last 90 days.

Institutional Trading of Agilent Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of A. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 2.6% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Agilent Technologies by 6.8% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 10,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 25.3% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,953 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Dohj LLC grew its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000.

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.