First Horizon Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,498 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,200,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 131.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 21.9% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 10.6% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 47,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,208,000 after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.1% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 30,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,735 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AME opened at $185.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $182.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.55.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AME shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

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.