AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Marks Group Wealth Management Inc

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lowered its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,665 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,835 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in 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 in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised 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, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AME. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE AME opened at $185.56 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $42.92 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.95.

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. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.