Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Increases Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,277 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $2,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in AMETEK by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AMETEK by 3.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after purchasing an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in AMETEK by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $795,939,000 after purchasing an additional 99,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its stake in AMETEK by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 91,287 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AME shares. Truist Financial raised 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $178.76 on Tuesday. 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 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $183.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.42.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK 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.