Bessemer Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bessemer Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 601,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,660 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.26% of AMETEK worth $108,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in AMETEK by 573.4% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 151,258 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,331,000 after purchasing an additional 128,795 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 215.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 327,050 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,954,000 after buying an additional 223,400 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,039.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 448,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,795,000 after buying an additional 408,863 shares during the last quarter. Maren Capital LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 686,632 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,772,000 after purchasing an additional 48,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on AME shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.78.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $161.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.70 and a two-hundred day simple 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 market capitalization of $37.18 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

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.