Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,715 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:AME opened at $174.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $182.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.53.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend 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.