AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.67.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AME shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in AMETEK by 62.6% in the third 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 during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position 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 period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $174.50 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $182.92 and a 200 day moving average of $180.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $40.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.