AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lowered its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 45,249 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,800 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 92,730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,782,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,971 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 18,469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 109,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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. 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, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $176.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.28. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.