AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $184.54 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $184.29 and its 200-day moving average is $176.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.8% during the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.