Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New $30.67 Million Investment in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 170,149 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,671,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in AMETEK by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,583,231,000 after acquiring an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after acquiring an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after buying an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $795,939,000 after buying an additional 99,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,352,000 after buying an additional 91,287 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $189.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $183.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.06.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.