AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Stock Position Lessened by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 88.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 288,341 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,319,078 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $51,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% during 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. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,067 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,814 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 264,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in AMETEK by 45.9% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 7,626 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,309,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AME. 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 upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $152.45 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $180.56 and a 200-day moving average of $180.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $35.18 billion, a PE ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

About AMETEK

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.