AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Now Covered by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Research analysts at Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.12% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.60.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME opened at $158.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.15. AMETEK has a one year low of $145.02 and a one year high of $198.33.

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 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 for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction 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 approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth about $999,000. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after buying an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in AMETEK by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 142,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,616,000 after buying an additional 21,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 buying an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.