Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Grows Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,023,724 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 89,265 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $197,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $184.12 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $42.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.82.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. 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. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

About AMETEK

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.