AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Amundi

Amundi reduced its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 858,026 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,171 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.37% of AMETEK worth $153,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 366.1% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on AME shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the sale, 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 is available at this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AMETEK Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:AME opened at $179.38 on Tuesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $183.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The business 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%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.