Rhumbline Advisers Sells 2,749 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 444,088 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,749 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.19% of AMETEK worth $80,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter worth about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in AMETEK by 23.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in AMETEK by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,752,000 after acquiring an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $183.42 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 18.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AME shares. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas raised 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.