1,132 Shares in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Purchased by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,132 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after acquiring an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% during 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $993,546,000 after acquiring an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $795,939,000 after purchasing an additional 99,505 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AME. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, 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. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $157.66 on Monday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.02 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $36.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.77.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK 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.