RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,600 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth $697,080,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 240.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,805,000 after acquiring an additional 794,473 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after acquiring an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 10,506.5% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 476,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 471,950 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’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 transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $171.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.09. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.