Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,277 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $2,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at $1,171,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $822,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 36,507 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,581,000 after purchasing an additional 5,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 149,352 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,523,000 after purchasing an additional 42,014 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.5 %

AMETEK stock opened at $178.76 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.42. The company has a market cap of $41.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. Analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

About AMETEK

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.