James Hambro & Partners LLP Raises Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

James Hambro & Partners LLP boosted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 77.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 621,355 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 270,764 shares during the quarter. AMETEK makes up about 4.4% of James Hambro & Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. James Hambro & Partners LLP owned about 0.27% of AMETEK worth $112,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 42.9% during 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 during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE AME opened at $187.91 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $43.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

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.