AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE cut its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,415 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,280 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in AMETEK by 4.5% in 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 period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lifted 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $183.08 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $183.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.62.

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

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.91%.

About AMETEK

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.