California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 542,684 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 8,488 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $89,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,189,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $618,983,000 after purchasing an additional 674,549 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its position in AMETEK by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 2,586,030 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $426,410,000 after purchasing an additional 252,455 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in AMETEK by 4.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,362,467 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $349,078,000 after purchasing an additional 96,793 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,193,916 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,413,000 after buying an additional 10,893 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 84.9% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,081,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,811,000 after buying an additional 496,523 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total value of $2,938,308.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,138,983.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.59, for a total value of $252,826.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 28,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,066,271.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total transaction of $2,938,308.87. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at $17,138,983.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,881 shares of company stock worth $10,689,758 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $178.25 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.21 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $133.12 and a 12-month high of $186.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.07.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.96% and a net margin of 19.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.78.

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.