Advisor OS LLC Sells 11,186 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Advisor OS LLC trimmed its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 87.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,677 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,186 shares during the quarter. Advisor OS LLC's holdings in AMETEK were worth $302,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 24,072 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE grew its holdings in AMETEK by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 91,287 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded 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 increased their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME traded down $2.99 on Monday, hitting $186.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,108,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,319,707. The company has a market capitalization of $42.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The stock's 50-day moving average is $183.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.31.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. AMETEK's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

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 reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.