Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires 115 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,868 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 83,469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,046,000 after buying an additional 13,061 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,290,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,762,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $188.81 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.49. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Mizuho lifted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.