Paloma Partners Management Co Buys Shares of 42,500 AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 42,500 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,661,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 91,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,512,000 after purchasing an additional 10,677 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 391,702 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,608,000 after acquiring an additional 12,064 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,375,972 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $428,293,000 after acquiring an additional 342,589 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 57.8% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 110,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,956,000 after acquiring an additional 40,543 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 141.3% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 724 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AME. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a research report on Monday, April 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the 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. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents 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 owned by insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $166.24 on Tuesday. 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 50-day moving average of $171.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.53. The stock has a market cap of $38.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.02 and a 1-year high of $198.33.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

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

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.