AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC reduced its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 29.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,502 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,839 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $13,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank increased its stake in AMETEK by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dudley & Shanley Inc. increased its stake in AMETEK by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 139,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,942,000 after purchasing an additional 14,105 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE AME opened at $161.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $37.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $177.70 and a 200-day moving average of $180.27. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.02 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AME shares. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised 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 report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.78.

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.