Wedbush Securities Inc. Takes Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. $A

Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Generation Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 4,983,556 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $582,976,000 after acquiring an additional 824,243 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,836,105 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $448,748,000 after purchasing an additional 604,124 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 141.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 935,893 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $109,481,000 after buying an additional 548,344 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Agilent Technologies by 681.6% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 522,073 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $61,072,000 after acquiring an additional 455,276 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Agilent Technologies by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,213,748 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $383,143,000 after purchasing an additional 447,207 shares in the last quarter. 87.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Agilent Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.62.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE A opened at $146.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.71. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.43 and a 1-year high of $153.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $137.27 and a 200-day moving average of $123.50. The company has a market capitalization of $41.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.29.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The medical research company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.37. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 17.97% and a return on equity of 25.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.32 earnings per share. Agilent Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.560-5.590 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.570-1.600 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is 23.24%.

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.