First National Advisers LLC Sells 4,553 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

First National Advisers LLC lessened its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,556 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,553 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 3.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 5.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $176.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.28.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its 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 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.