Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Cuts Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,141 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 509 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $10,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Giverny Capital Inc. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 0.5% in the third quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 897,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,549,000 after buying an additional 4,556 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 11.6% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,637 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 161.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 44,684 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,368,000 after purchasing an additional 27,562 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 208.1% during the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 14,439 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total value of $2,938,308.87. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,138,983.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total value of $2,938,308.87. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,138,983.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,863,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AME opened at $177.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $179.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.34. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.12 and a fifty-two week high of $186.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.75%.

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.