Marshall Financial Group LLC Sells 5,449 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Marshall Financial Group LLC lowered its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 78.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,465 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,449 shares during the quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AME. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 8,967 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,495,000 after buying an additional 3,849 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 2,987.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 33,959 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,661,000 after buying an additional 32,859 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 24,744 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,125,000 after buying an additional 7,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 358.6% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 13,184 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,198,000 after buying an additional 10,309 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $187.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.93. The stock has a market cap of $43.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.