Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Invests $342,000 in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,896 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $175.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results 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 company 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%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK 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.