Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $9.73 Million Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,957 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 20,800 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $9,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AME. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the third quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Procyon Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter worth about $342,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 6.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.4% in the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,451 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,774,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.1 %

AMETEK stock opened at $185.48 on Thursday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.73 and a 200-day moving average of $177.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes 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 shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.