AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on AME. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.86.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:AME traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $193.10. 2,103,201 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,155,791. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $196.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 4.8% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% 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.