Champlain Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,425,325 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 623,435 shares during the period. AMETEK makes up 1.6% of Champlain Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.62% of AMETEK worth $256,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 72.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AMETEK by 366.1% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,336,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,938 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 33,034 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,672,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AME. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.60.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on AMETEK
AMETEK Stock Performance
AME traded up $3.84 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $159.09. The stock had a trading volume of 467,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,282,071. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $145.02 and a one 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 firm has a market cap of $36.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $173.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $179.67.
AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.
AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
AMETEK Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.
About AMETEK
(
Free Report)
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.
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