LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Purchases 5,781 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,095 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 5,781 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in AMETEK were worth $5,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after acquiring an additional 24,072 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $924,308,000 after purchasing an additional 45,459 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $795,939,000 after purchasing an additional 99,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 91,287 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE:AME traded down $2.99 on Monday, reaching $186.31. 1,108,185 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,319,892. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.