AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Stock Holdings Decreased by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,489 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 106 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in AMETEK by 23.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $184.54 on Monday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $184.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.89%.

AMETEK Company Profile

AMETEK, Inc manufactures and sells electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and internationally. The company's EIG segment offers advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power, and industrial markets; process and analytical instruments for the oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, automation, and food and beverage industries; instruments to the laboratory equipment, ultra-precision manufacturing, medical, and test and measurement markets; power quality monitoring and c devices, uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment, and sensors for gas turbines and dashboard instruments; heavy trucks, instrumentation, and controls for the food and beverage industries; and aircraft and engine sensors, power supplies, embedded computing, monitoring, fuel and fluid measurement, and data acquisition systems for aerospace and defense industry.