Montag A & Associates Inc. Reduces Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,073 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,259 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 60.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on 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 upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock opened at $183.42 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $42.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a PEG 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.24.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently 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.