AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Ifrah Financial Services Inc.

Ifrah Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,659 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Ifrah Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 188.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,749,446 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $315,355,000 after purchasing an additional 69,137 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 15,655 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,822,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 154,533 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,856,000 after purchasing an additional 21,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 183,024 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,992,000 after purchasing an additional 34,866 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AME. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. Mizuho lifted their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $183.42 on Monday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $183.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.89%.

AMETEK Company 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.