AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday.

AME has been the subject of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp increased 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. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $186.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.36. The stock has a market cap of $43.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend 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 presently 18.89%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This trade represents 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 through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter worth approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after buying an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,752,000 after buying an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.