Virtu Financial LLC Has $1.16 Million Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Virtu Financial LLC lowered its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 78.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,756 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24,591 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in AMETEK during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 168.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research 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 report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $187.36 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $43.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,660 shares of company stock valued at $5,958,141. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About AMETEK

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.