Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 440,197 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 434.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 440,197 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $97,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 8.8% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,188 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,365,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,335 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 346,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 15,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $313,777,000 after purchasing an additional 148,447 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AME shares. TD Cowen downgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.50.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.5 %

AME stock opened at $179.12 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.51%.

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.