Dundas Partners LLP Buys 9,042 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Dundas Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,812 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,042 shares during the quarter. Dundas Partners LLP’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $25,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% in the third 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. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 15.7% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 7.3% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 9.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 68,204 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,711,000 after acquiring an additional 5,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK during the third quarter worth $205,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased 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. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective 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 increased their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $184.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. 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 $42.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $183.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.93.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. 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 company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm 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 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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 of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Company 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.