Prudential Financial Inc. Has $22.75 Million Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,222 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26,335 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of AMETEK worth $22,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 276.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 1,462 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in AMETEK by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,108,000 after buying an additional 2,659 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $422,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in AMETEK by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,668 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $176.90 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.92 and a 200 day moving average of $180.80. 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 stock has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AME has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

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.