Florida Financial Advisors LLC Sells 296 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Florida Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,360 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 296 shares during the quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after purchasing an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,305 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,965,000 after buying an additional 9,466 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 8,418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth about $13,851,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AMETEK Stock Up 2.6 %

AME opened at $178.99 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.71. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

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

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price 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. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

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.