Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 170,149 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $30,671,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.07% of AMETEK at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AME. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 8,781 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in AMETEK by 5.9% in the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 2,183 shares of the technology company's stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the third quarter worth $202,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 12.3% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 36,695 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,301,000 after purchasing an additional 4,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 37,595 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $6,455,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AME. Truist Financial increased 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. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 1.5 %

AME traded down $2.87 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $183.68. 776,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,304,426. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.06, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $183.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released 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. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. AMETEK's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. AMETEK's payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK 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.