Unigestion Holding SA Sells 1,497 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Unigestion Holding SA lessened its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 22.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,276 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,497 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in 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. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in AMETEK by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,814 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in AMETEK by 226.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 51.6% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,509,000 after buying an additional 4,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after buying an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Trading Down 5.6 %

AMETEK stock opened at $152.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $180.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.87. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’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 value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. 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. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

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.