Carderock Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,596 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Carderock Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,102 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,596 shares during the quarter. AMETEK accounts for about 2.0% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $258,000. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 22,748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,101,000 after buying an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,588 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,614,000 after acquiring an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME stock opened at $180.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $187.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AME. KeyCorp increased their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lowered AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.44.

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.