UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Purchases 3,424 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,308 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,424 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter valued at about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 434.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after buying an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dudley & Shanley Inc. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 11.3% during the third quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 139,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,942,000 after buying an additional 14,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $170.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.80. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

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

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.