Fmr LLC Acquires 98,546 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Fmr LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 98,546 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned approximately 3.87% of AMETEK worth $1,614,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AME. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 60.9% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AME shares. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $152.45 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.95. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $148.84 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $35.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly 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 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.