AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Stake Cut by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,732 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 295 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in AMETEK by 48.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,294,121,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,535 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $600,615,000 after acquiring an additional 926,657 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 256.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 976,808 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $162,844,000 after acquiring an additional 702,674 shares during the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth $64,284,000. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in AMETEK during the first quarter valued at $46,343,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AME. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $204.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.29.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $171.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.60 billion, a PE ratio of 30.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $136.89 and a one year high of $186.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $166.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.39.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 19.51%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 19.68%.

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.