Blue Trust Inc. Reduces Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,103 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 95 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in AMETEK by 62.6% during 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 period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during 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 period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. Mizuho increased their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial boosted 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. KeyCorp increased their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.44.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $184.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $185.44 and a 200 day moving average of $176.40.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

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.