6,898 Shares in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Purchased by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 6,898 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,243,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $999,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after buying an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,614,000 after buying an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dudley & Shanley Inc. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 11.3% in the third quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 139,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,942,000 after acquiring an additional 14,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock opened at $170.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.03. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AME. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

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.