AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on AME. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $152.45 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.87. AMETEK has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. 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 company has a market capitalization of $35.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion during 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%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its board 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 typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AME. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in AMETEK by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,067 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $997,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 76.2% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,814 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 1.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 264,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,352 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Company 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.