AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Position Reduced by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE lowered its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,415 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,280 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 54,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,752,000 after buying an additional 14,252 shares during the last quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,578,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,053,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,671,000. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 90,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AME. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. 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. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $183.08 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.62. 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 (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

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.