Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 99,505 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,505 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $795,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 60.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $186.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.88 and a 200-day moving average of $178.74.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management 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 issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 18.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AME. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

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.