Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 282,208 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 282,208 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of AMETEK worth $4,713,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,305 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,965,000 after buying an additional 9,466 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 8,418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,517,000 after acquiring an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at $13,851,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 149,668 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 240.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $202,805,000 after purchasing an additional 794,473 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

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 directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AME. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $178.99 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.71.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. 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 earned $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

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.