Meridiem Capital Partners LP Invests $29.49 Million in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 219,530 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $29,492,000. Agilent Technologies makes up 2.6% of Meridiem Capital Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Meridiem Capital Partners LP owned about 0.08% of Agilent Technologies at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,306,805 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,250,276,000 after acquiring an additional 59,781 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,002,671 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $938,291,000 after purchasing an additional 53,992 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,213,739 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $700,414,000 after purchasing an additional 47,495 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,436,700 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $596,026,000 after purchasing an additional 38,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Agilent Technologies by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,192,790 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $563,259,000 after purchasing an additional 457,713 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Agilent Technologies

In other news, Director Daniel K. Podolsky sold 1,819 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 35,737 shares in the company, valued at $4,161,931.02. The trade was a 4.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Rodney Gonsalves sold 1,908 shares of Agilent Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.98, for a total transaction of $232,737.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,657,456.28. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of 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. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $135.00 to $116.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agilent Technologies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $143.00.

Agilent Technologies Trading Up 1.2%

A traded up $1.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $113.76. 1,811,948 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,904,117. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.44 and a 200 day moving average of $128.17. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.43 and a 12-month high of $154.95.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Agilent Technologies had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 25.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.67 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Agilent Technologies's dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

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.