AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded at StockNews.com

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas raised 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. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $179.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $183.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.13. AMETEK has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. 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 capitalization of $41.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released 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 return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cim LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Cim LLC now owns 7,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,493,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 32,885 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,393 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,761,312 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $317,494,000 after acquiring an additional 53,363 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in AMETEK by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 20,163 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,635,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.