AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.67.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in AMETEK by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,574,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock opened at $185.76 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.55. AMETEK has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. 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 (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.91%.

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.