Agilent Technologies Rewards Shareholders, Hikes Dividend
Zacks Investment Research | Nov 16, 2017 10:30PM ET
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) recently announced that its board of directors has increased its quarterly dividend. In fact, the company has been consistently rewarding its shareholders through dividends.
Shareholder-friendly Move
Agilent, a broad-based OEM of test and measurement equipment, raised its quarterly dividend to 14.9 cents per share. The new dividend, which has been approved by the company’s board of directors, will be paid to investors on Jan 24, 2018 to stockholders on record as of Jan 2, 2018. Agilent
We believe the dividend hike not only highlights Agilent’s commitment toward creating value for shareholders but also underlines the company’s financial condition and confidence in its business. It is evident from the past records that Agilent has a stable dividend payment history.
Price Performance
So far this year, Agilent’s shares have outperformed the industry . The stock has been up 50.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 48.5%.
The company’s investor-friendly announcement might further give a lift to the stock.
Bottom Line
Agilent has a strong capital management policy in place. Based in Palo Alto, CA, this company’s initiatives are well supported by its solid cash flow generation, which in turn is driven by sustained solid operational performance.
Moreover, Agilent’s efforts toward enhancing shareholder wealth through dividends are impressive. In the third quarter of fiscal 2017, the company returned $42 million to its shareholders through dividends. Cash and cash equivalents were $2.56 billion compared with $2.39 billion in the prior quarter.
In fact, we believe that the dividend hikes are a good way of building investor confidence as these return shareholder value.
Agilent is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter 2017 results on Nov 20.
For the upcoming fiscal fourth quarter, Agilent expects to post revenues between $1.15 billion and $1.17 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of 60-62 cents. Analysts polled by Zacks anticipate revenues of $1.17 billion and earnings of 63 cents per share.
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