Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Increases Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,720 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $189.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.31.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.