National Pension Service Has $49.28 Million Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

National Pension Service lowered its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 55.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 273,369 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 335,585 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.12% of AMETEK worth $49,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 60.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target 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. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.5 %

AMETEK stock opened at $187.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $183.13 and its 200 day moving average is $178.87. The company has a market capitalization of $43.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 18.89%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.