AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV cut its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 49.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,258 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 21,589 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AMETEK by 48.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,294,121,000 after buying an additional 2,306,535 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in AMETEK by 0.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,536,231 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,195,478,000 after purchasing an additional 44,899 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 34.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $600,615,000 after purchasing an additional 926,657 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in AMETEK by 3.0% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,063,588 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $560,278,000 after purchasing an additional 90,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in AMETEK by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company's stock worth $313,777,000 after purchasing an additional 148,447 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME traded down $0.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $193.10. The company had a trading volume of 2,148,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,155,791. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $196.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $173.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. AMETEK's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.81 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK's payout ratio is 19.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AMETEK to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $197.86.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

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.