Venturi Wealth Management LLC Sells 2,510 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 81.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 582 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,510 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $186.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $182.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.36. 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 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.