Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Buys 4,059 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,932 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,059 shares during the period. AMETEK comprises 1.4% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $18,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on AMETEK from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.29.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $169.40 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.62. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $136.89 and a 52 week high of $186.32. The stock has a market cap of $39.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.57 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 19.68%.

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.