Short Interest in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) Increases By 30.2%

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,580,000 shares, an increase of 30.2% from the July 15th total of 2,750,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 25,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,274,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 1,958 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $254,540.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 25,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,274,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dominique Grau sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.28, for a total transaction of $1,999,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,595,494.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,916 shares of company stock worth $2,527,860 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its position in Agilent Technologies by 114.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 527.8% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 226 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on A. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $153.00 price target on shares of Agilent Technologies in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Agilent Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Agilent Technologies from $163.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $141.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.27.

Agilent Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of A stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $140.04. 1,284,834 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,753,159. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $133.32 and its 200 day moving average is $138.31. The company has a market capitalization of $40.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.05. 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 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The medical research company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 26.25% and a net margin of 18.84%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Agilent Technologies will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.236 per share. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 2nd. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

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.