Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Buys 332 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,698 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 162,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,845,000 after purchasing an additional 9,928 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 34,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,983,000 after acquiring an additional 16,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 110,625 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,996,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AME shares. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $176.35 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G 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. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $183.09 and its 200 day moving average is $180.36.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board 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.