Essex Financial Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,206 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter valued at $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth about $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AME. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.11.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly 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. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 18.89%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is 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.