Commerce Bank Sells 4,688 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Commerce Bank cut its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 103,073 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,688 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $18,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,713,397,000 after buying an additional 282,208 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $993,546,000 after acquiring an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $795,939,000 after purchasing an additional 99,505 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $157.66 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $145.02 and a one year high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost 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 0.79%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. 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. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a research note on Monday, April 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.60.

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.