AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

AME has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $180.05 on Wednesday. AMETEK has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.58.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 3.8% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its position in AMETEK by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.