National Pension Service Purchases 18,156 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 576,395 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 18,156 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.25% of AMETEK worth $95,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in AMETEK by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 15,442 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,547,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its stake in AMETEK by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,435 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 15,934 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp raised its stake in AMETEK by 6.1% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 1,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 4.6% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,919 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial started coverage on AMETEK in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,863,680. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 27,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.05, for a total transaction of $5,070,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,710,045.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $141,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AME traded up $1.02 on Thursday, reaching $170.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 358,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 971,684. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $136.89 and a 12-month high of $186.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $39.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $179.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.69.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.74% and a net margin of 19.57%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

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.