Montag A & Associates Inc. Sells 1,259 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,073 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,259 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,367,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in AMETEK by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,975 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $854,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,411 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 36,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $815,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AME shares. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

AMETEK stock opened at $183.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $183.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $42.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.